Harry and his Marriage Contracts
by HolyDragoon
Summary: AU. A joke of Destiny let Harry Potter end Voldemort's life sooner than expected. Now emancipated and leader of two powerful houses, he faces the next challenge: two Marriage Contracts! Written just for fun! HP, DG and SB in a delicate situation.
1. After the Prophecy, the Future

**Disclaimer: J. owns Harry Potter and everything related. End of file.  
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**Well, this is pretty much just a story for fun, without worrying too much. Just some random stuff that was hanging around my head.**

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><p>Harry Potter was not in a good mood.<p>

It all started when he received that blasted Gringotts letter, merely a month after finally managing to get Voldemort (may Hell burn his bits to a crisp) killed once and for all, no chance of return... _'Wait a second, actually, it started waaaaaay before that,'_ he thought to himself, while holding a glass with three fingers of firewhiskey in it.

Turns out that his father, being a mix between eternal prankster, concerned father trying to get a future for his son, and someone that had some friends with daughters around Harry's age, decided to create some marriage contracts. Apparently, those concerned parents were approached by some shady characters from the oldest pureblood families, asking for the hand of their daughters. _'Well, at least I can relate to that,'_ he mused, checking that one of shady characters was no less than old dear Lucius Malfoy, _'I'd rather have my daughter try her luck with a son of a friend of mine than giving her to a prat like Draco.'_

In Harry's opinion, his father had either tempted fate or he had taken a Luck Potion that day: the Marriage Contracts were signed one day before the tragedy at Godric's Hollow, making them the final one-finger salute to some Death Eaters. The green-eyed wizard pinched his nose. _'Yeah, and he got me right to the neck with this stuff. And TWO marriage contracts? What The Hell, Father?'_ He took a swig of his drink, grimacing as he felt the burning liquid going down his throat. By morning he would be with a massive hangover. Oh well, it's not like he couldn't afford to get drunk.

"So Harry, mind to share that bottle of firewhiskey with an old man?" Harry turned towards the source of the question. He grinned as he saw his mentor and friend Albus Dumbledore. "Feel free to sit down, Headmaster. I guess one entire bottle is too much for me right now."

As the Director of Hogwarts sat on another sofa near the fire, Harry called out for his House Elf. "Kreacher, could you please bring a glass to Headmaster Dumbledore?"

Said elf appeared with a pop moments later, delivering a glass to the guess. "Here you have Headmaster."

"Thanks Kreacher." As he took the bottle and started filling the glass with it, Albus turned to the new head of Houses Potter and Black. "Having problems with the whole Contract stuff?"

Harry grumbled. "Yeah, waking up and realizing I had to deal with that really ruined an otherwise perfectly fine day." he took a sip of his drink, before pressing on. "I mean, I try to have a quiet, nice life now that I'm finally free from the prophecy, and suddenly I have to deal with two Contracts that are legally unbreakable. Not only that, but the names of the betrothed will only be revealed to anyone apart from the Goblins that are keeping it when we meet next Friday!"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Come on now Harry, it is not so bad. You have grown wise way faster than your peers. There was no way I'd have proposed you to a full emancipation if I didn't see it for myself. You are not that..." Albus dared not to finish that sentence. The twinkle in his eyes vanished in an instant. It was his greatest shame.

His friend gazed sternly at him. "Now... Albus," he said, "do not go down that road again. We talked about it already."

The older wizard nodded, remembering bitter moments of the past, and all that came after it, both bad and good.

**.**

**Memories from the Past...**

**.**

That day, Albus had decided to visit one of his long-time friends, Arabella Figg. It was a nice, sunny summer day, and he was peacefully talking with his friend when he stared at Harry's house from the window, noticing Vernon Dursley in one of his 'special' moments with his nephew, hitting his head against the fence and breaking his arm in the process. Of course, Dumbledore was horrified. He has expected the Dursleys to treat him at least with some semblance of respect and care. Well, reality decided to hit him like a charging Bludger and knock his face into a pile of steaming dragon dung. Overcoming his shock, he eventually went directly to the Dursleys, asking to see Harry.

What happened next was a serious show of why Albus Dumbledore was regarded as one of the greatest wizard ever. After kindly knocking at the door, and being received with Vernon's normal reaction to the wizardry kind, he frowned and asked Fawkes to send a request to the ministry.

Moments later, Fawkes returned with a positive response. The old wizard decided that now, instead of knocking at the door, he would knock the door down. With a flick of his wand, the door flew out of his hinges, allowing him to enter with an attitude that showed his as someone you don't want to mess with.

"I will ask, and you will answer. Where. Is. Harry?" he asked on a cold tone. Two fingers pointing as the cupboard at his side were the only reply. Frowning, the old wizard opened the door, revealing a bleeding, crying boy.

Albus glared at the Dursleys, who took that at a hint to soil themselves. The old wizard shook his head, and carefully took Harry out of his 'bedroom'. Looking at his phoenix, he only gave a silent nod before leaving the house.

Several hours later, Vernon and Petunia Dursley were in prison, formally accused of child abuse. Harry, on the other hand, was now sleeping peacefully at the Hogwarts infirmary, his injuries healed. But Albus wasn't a happy man. His neglect on checking out thoroughly his foster family cost him several scars and some severe issues, not to mention he was way too small for his age. Although Harry was a part of his plan to bring an end to the Dark Lord, he noticed he was enjoying his paper of grandfather to the kid, meaning that this episodes gave him a whole new perspective in his usual strategy.

To avoid the possibility of Harry turning into some sort of arrogant brat, the Headmaster decided to spend the summer vacations with him in Hogwarts, entertaining him and at the same time teaching him about the ways of the wizardry world. Surprisingly, Harry proved to be quite the smart kid, both in Muggle school and vacation with the Headmaster.

These small changes had significant impact on the war against Voldemort. By the end of Harry's second year and the destruction of Riddle's diary, Dumbledore suspected the Dark Lord created Horcruxes, and spent most of the following year studying and finding clues about the whereabouts of the other pieces, after a rather serious conversation with Horace Slughorn.

That summer, after the Release of Sirius Black, Albus told Harry about the Horcruxes, getting a special license to allow Harry to cast spells outside of the school period. The reason? Hunting. That summer, Harry had the displeasure of meeting the Inferi during their attempt to retrieve one of the Horcruxes. That expedition was a partial disaster, since the locket was a fake, but Dumbledore remember seeing that fake locket before. Turned out that Regulus Black swapped the lockets to destroy the Horcrux, but was killed before finding anything that could damaged the cursed item. With some help from Sirius, Harry managed to discover the current keeper of the locket, allowing Dumbledore to destroy it and establishing a friendship between him and Kreacher, that finally saw his master's final wish fulfilled. Despite the success of the operation, they ended up making less progress than they expected to do.

Harry's fourth year was filled by the Triwizard tournament. Dumbledore tried to investigate, but his investigation of the remaining Horcruxes' whereabouts led to his second great mistake:

He failed to predict the trap on the third task.

As he looked sadly at Cedric Diggory's body, he realized his rather successful year hunting left a bitter aftertaste. After all, he he only paid more attention to the signs... Suffice to say, that Summer was rather somber regarding the conversations between the Headmaster and the Boy-Who-Lived, marked by a grim determination in ending the war.

In fact, despite the interference of Ministry, their hunt was almost complete, with Helga Hufflepuff's Cup being destroyed after Harry and Dumbledore offered some rare Goblin artefacts kept in the Potter safes to Gringotts.

And then Voldemort decided to make use of the connection he had with the Boy-Who-Lived. To the old Headmaster's despair, the theory that Harry might be an accidental Horcrux made more and more sense, and, watching Harry from afar, he knew that the boy suspected that something was very wrong with him.

He watched Harry sneaking around to give Defence lessons to his little club, and that both amused him and made him proud. Amused because Harry was managing to do that despite Umbridge's actions, and proud because he was doing it to help others to defend themselves. When Harry's little project was denounced, Albus decided to go with the game and made a grand exit, taking the chance to take Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem and destroy it with the last poison that remained on the fang that was recovered by Harry in a visit to the Chamber of Secrets.

He then kept watch on Harry, jumping into the fray just in time to help Harry in his fight against the Death Eaters. He successfully restrained all Death Eaters save for Bellatrix Lestrange, who was still fighting Sirius Black. To his horror, he saw Sirius being thrown beyond the Veil before he could do something to avoid it. Harry immediately pursued Bella, and Dumbledore followed, arriving in time to save the boy from getting killed by his nemesis.

The duel that followed, and what happened, are what the Headmaster calls 'a miracle'. During the duel, Fawkes had the strangest idea: It started to sing. Only later the Headmaster was told by Harry that the song of the mythical bird allowed him to know the whereabouts of Nagini and pass them to the phoenix. Meanwhile, Voldemort had the upper hand in battle he had conjured a snake and the veteran wizard was having trouble getting rid of it. Sensing victory, the Dark Lord launched the Killing Curse...

… only for Fawkes to come in and drop Nagini on the path of the spell, sending it flying until it fell, dazed but not dead, next to Harry. Dumbledore could not protect Harry, as Voldemort was still there, but Fawkes had other plans, and one unexpected ally: Somehow, the Sword of Gryffindor decided to lend its power to Harry once again! Voldemort tried to break from the duel to deal with Harry, but his opponent would have none of it. With a vicious _Expelliarmus_, Dumbledore kept his enemy's focus into combat, but both of them could see Harry spinning gracefully and beheading Nagini's head in one graceful cut. He could hear the shrieks of a destroyed Horcrux, and the screams of despair of Voldemort, before the Dark Lord vanished with a shockwave that threw him down.

Just when the headmaster thought that the worse had passed, Voldemort showed his last card.

"Kill me and the boy. Do it!" Dumbledore heard Harry hiss. He knew what happened. He knew that victory was at hand, too. Just one curse, and Dark Lord would have no souls left. But the price was too high. He could see the strain on Harry's face, see the boy trying to fight back valiantly, but failing to retake control.

And for the third time, Fawkes sang.

If the first song was one of hope, and the second one of courage, then this one was all about love. _'The power that the Dark Lord knows not,'_ the headmaster recalled the line from the prophecy. Maybe this battle could be one. "Fight on Harry!" he shouted, trying to let him know that he was there. His shout was joined by all the members of the DA who had come with Harry, who had managed to finally arrive at the hall. As he learned later, Fawkes even allowed Harry to feel the strength of those who were already on their way for the next adventure, breaking for some precious seconds the boundaries between life and death.

Those seconds were all that Harry needed to bring an end to the possession. With a howl, his scar flashed and he was projected backwards, his scar emitting the unmistakable sound of a destroyed Horcrux. Still, he saw Harry getting on his feet again after some mere seconds had passed, staring at a certain spot just outside Dumbledore's vision, and gripping the Sword of Gryffindor tight.

Turning his head, the old man saw that Voldemort was back, pointing a wand at Harry. Not his wand, though. Voldemort's wand was now nothing more than a charred stick at his feet.

Somehow, the backlash from the Horcrux forced Voldemort's want to send him back here and overload.

"It is over, boy," the snake-face hissed "I win. Avada Kedavra!"

Nothing happened. Silence filled the hall. Then, a single note was chirped by Fawkes, something that everybody could interpret as the phoenix's way of telling the Dark Lord he was an idiot, and a dead idiot at that. Then the wand flashed, extending golden tendrils that wrapped all around Voldemort. With an explosion, the wand then released itself from the Dark Lord's grasp, falling into Harry's hand. Only now Dumbledore realized that was Harry's wand. He chuckled. "The wand chooses the wizard, Tom. But you are right. It is over."

Voldemort screamed, as the tendrils of light seemed to tighten even more, leaving his body unhurt, but consuming his soul piece by piece, until at last the tendrils vanished, leaving only a lifeless body behind. So was the end of Lord Voldemort.

With a grunt, Dumbledore finally managed to get himself up. Limping, he approached Harry, that even now kept staring at his wand, unable to process what just happened. "Well," the headmaster said, wrapping his arm around Harry's shoulders, "it is over Harry. You are free at last. You know what that means?"

The boy nodded absent-mindedly. Albus shook his head, grabbed the head of a statue that once decorated the room, and cast a portkey spell on it. "Go on Harry. I'll join you soon, and we'll talk about this later. Good job, Harry. I'm proud of you."

**.**

**Back to the Present**

**.**

Albus grinned. "Do you remember what you told me when I asked you why were you laughing like a maniac in the day Tom Riddle died?" The boy looked at him for a second, before trying to hold a sudden impulse to laugh.

He failed miserably. The sound of two full blown fits of laughter echoed around the room, as both people remembered about Harry's thought of having the ghost of Sirius Back spanking his godson if he decided to get all emo about the death of his godfather. Somehow, that little memory kept Harry from closing himself from the world, making him realized that Sirius' intent was to have him understand that life is a precious gift, and he should not waste it by remembering the past.

Cleaning the tears of joy that ran on his face, Harry calmed down enough to look at the fire with a fond expression. "He was right. Now it is time to enjoy the moment and plan for a future. His best advice ever, apart from that story... errr..." He blushed hard, trying not to remember 'The Talk' they had, with lots of additions from his godfather."A toast for the future?" he asked, raising his glass.

Albus raised his glass as well. "A toast for the happier days to come. And to your double marriage."

Harry snorted, before replying cheekily. "You're jealous of me, that's all."

"That will depend on the beauty of your betrothed." Dumbledore retorted.

"Touché."

**.**

**Friday Morning**

**.**

"Aaaaaah, I think I have everything now. Kreacher, could you please confirm if I'm forgetting something?" Harry, asked to his house elf. To this occasion, the young Potter was dressed in a formal black robe with the crest of his two houses. That robe was left open in the front, revealing a suit not unlike the ones used by Muggles. An emerald green tie, the same tone as his eyes, completed the set of sober yet fashionable robes.

"Of course, sir. Gringotts Letter?"

"Here," replied Harry, showing a letter in one of his pockets.

"Wand?"

"Which one?" replied Harry, smirking. "All here."

"I guess the innuendo is with you as well, sir?" asked the House Elf, smirking.

"Oooh, I'm not sure if a stick with 13 inches, maple wood and Thestral Tail Hair could be considered an innuendo." Harry answered, referring to his new secondary wand.

"I apologize sir, you are right. I assume you have the holsters as well. Towel?"

Harry stopped for a moment, looking at Kreacher with a strange expression."Towel?"

"Yes sir, you should always keep your towel."

Harry shrugged, as he summoned a towel and shrunk it, allowing it to be pocketed. "I suppose it couldn't hurt. I could forget my toothbrush, but if I have a towel, people should get me one of those gift toothbrushes."

"Well then sir, off you go then. Good luck, you'll need it."

Harry rolled his eyes."Kreacher, sometimes you can be an insufferable prat." he complained in mock indignation.

" Last time I checked, you asked me to be like this, sir."

The boy grinned and waved in farewell, before stepping in front of the fireplace, grabbing a handful of Floo powder and throwing it into the fire. The tell-tale green indicated that the connection was successful and Harry, after a quick last check-up, said Gringotts before stepping into the flames.

If there is one thing he is thankful for, is that his frequent trips via Floo network gave him some experience regarding the... quirks of the system. Exiting the Gringotts fireplace, he discreetly leaned a little to the left, keeping his balance and not revealing his problems with Floo travel. Heading to the head goblin's chair, he nodded respectfully to the banker sitting there, before delivering his Gringotts Letter.

"Ah, Mr. Potter... or Mr. Black, whatever you want to be called. Welcome to Gringotts." the goblin greeted politely, returning the letter.

Harry pocketed the missive again. "Just call me Harry please, Bogrod. A bit more movement lately, isn't it? Well, better get to business and not waste any more of your time."

"I appreciate your consideration, Harry. Griphook will lead you to the conference room." Bogrod motioned for Griphook to approach.

"Good morning Griphook."

"Good morning Harry, please follow me to the conference room. Chief Ragnok should be arriving shortly." said Griphook. Harry nodded, as he followed the goblin to a quiet area, before being indicated to a office guarded by two scary-looking guards. "Please go right through, Harry. Chief Ragnok should arrive shortly."

"Thank you Griphook. Have a nice day."

Harry spent some moments analysing the door. It was a simple, sturdy looking door,made of some dark wood, appealing to people's sense of formality. Upon analysing the door, Harry could take a chance and say Chief Ragnok was someone that respected his clients, but it also asked his clients to respect him. The boy smirked. If he got this right, then he was starting to like Ragnok. Taking a few seconds to check once again his clothes and raise his mental shields, preparing to enter the room as Lord Potter and Lord Black, respecting but requesting respect as well. Walking the distance between him and the guards, he nodded before directing his request.

"Harry Potter, Lord of the Houses of Potter and Black asks for permission to enter Chief Ragnok's office, as requested in this missive," he said, handing the letter to one of the guards. The guard checked the authenticity of the paper, and stared fixedly at Harry for some seconds. Harry expected this, so he met his stare and did not show any sign of discomfort or anxiety. Finally, the goblin gave Harry a toothy smile and opened the door. "Very well, Mr. Potter, it isn't usual to find someone to match me. Chief Ragnok is waiting for you, along with the other parties."

With a polite nod, the young wizard entered the room, observing who was there. Fortunately for him, he kept his cool, even when he was greeted by the last persons he would ever expected to be involved on this mess: The Ice Queen of Slytherin, Daphne Greengrass and the niece of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement .

"Good morning Mr. Potter," said Ragnok, with a deep and formal voice, "please sit, we have much to discuss."

"Good morning Chief Ragnok, and all of the presents here," answered Harry in an equally formal tone. Despite his calm response, his mind was repeating a mantra with only one word.

_'Shite.'_

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><p><strong><em>Now that this chaper is done with, I believe there is some explanation to do. In this timeline, Dumbledore just saw something that made him snap and rethink all his plans. This had a cascade effect and Harry took some private tutoring and was raised in a caring family (up to the reader to decide who, apart from obviously 'dark' houses and the house of Bones or Greengrass, resulting on a Harry Potter that is smart enough (and has enough knowledge) to deal with the stuff of two houses, and flinging spells at whomever decides to be the dark lord wannabe of the week (or just have a metric ton of luck avaliable). On the other hand, the arts regardin the fairer sex... will be a tad more complicated.<em>**

**_Kreacher will be OOC, I warn you. Harry asked him to be like that, and Kreacher is happy to oblige._**

_**Do not expect this story to make any sense. Also, I'm thinking about having no parings here. Married on paper yes, but only good friends that share the same house. If falls on the reader to convince me otherwise, since this is a bit of take all or lose all: having one girl in love with him and the other just a friend would be... I dunno, weird? It's like she is the leftover.**_

_**Waiting for reviews, discussion, and everything that comes with it. Ladies and Gentlemen, and Ladies that dress like Men, or Men that dess like Ladies, I await you!**_

**_PS: Try to find the shout outs in the text. ;)_**

_**Até Já!**  
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	2. Meeting the Girls

**Disclaimer: Same stuff, you know I don't own the characters!**

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><p>The goblin waited until Harry was comfortably seated before beginning to explain the reasons behind the contract activation. Luckily enough, he had a little something that could explain clearly what happened. "Very well then, let us begin. First, I'd like to apologize to all of the involved for the delay on the notifications. The events leading to the activation of the contracts took place roughly three weeks ago. Mr. Potter should be aware of the date, since you came here that day."<p>

Harry nodded. "Yes, that day was rather memorable, and not for the best reasons, as you must have heard."

Ragnok grinned, showing his pointy teeth. "Mr. Potter, not only I heard, but I saw you and your inspired wand work. This window gives me a very good view of Diagon-Al. Now, that day, the marriage contracts between the Houses of Potter, Bones and Greengrass were activated. Of course, as you might remember, Mr. Greengrass, the wasn't supposed to happen. On activation of one of the contracts, the other would be permanently disabled. We were quite intrigued by this event, and that brings us to our delay in notifying the parts, since we were busy trying to detect a possible... mistake. Turns out that there is one situation we never considered: both contracts were activated at exactly the same time."

"Excuse me, Chief Ragnok," interrupted a stern-looking blonde that Harry recognized as Madam Bones, Susan's aunt, and one of the few that did not want his head on a stick last Summer "but if the activation clauses were similar for both contracts, how could they have been activated at the same time? That would require Harry to have shown behaviours both Slytherin and Hufflepuff at the same time."

"And believe me, Madam Bones," nodded Ragnok, "if the contracts had not activated after what Mr. Potter has done, I'd be very surprised. I guess Mr. Potter should remember quite well what he did."

Harry said nothing, but everybody noticed him rubbing his chest, remembering that particular wound. Amelia Bones nodded. "The fight against those pureblood drunkards? I saw some reports about it, but I don't recall seeing anything apart from a rather good work made by Mr. Potter and Miss Granger"

The goblin reached for one of the drawers on his desk and recovered a pensieve, filled with the swirling liquid that everyone knew it represented the memories of someone. "I'd like you to come and watch this. This is my memory regarding the battle."

The occupants of the room approached the pensieve, diving one at a time in the memory. Harry seemed to stare for moments at the liquid, before he too decided to dive in and get on with it.

After navigating through the now familiar swirl of colours, Harry found himself in the memory version of Ragnok's office, watching himself exiting the bank and finding his friend, Hermione Granger. Harry remembered that they planned to go get some ice cream from Florian after they had completed their rounds.

Suddenly, cries of panic and taunts were heard. Purely by instinct, Harry and Hermione immediately drew their wands, walked carefully to the zone where the shouts were heard.

By this time, a group of wizards cloaked in black came into Ragnok's view, shooting spells at random people that happened to be running. Those men in black were sympathizers of Voldemort that despite the death of the Dark Lord, decided to make up some noise to destroy the frail impression of safety that the wizardry community had.

Of course, Harry and Hermione saw the spells of that ragtag bunch, and gave them a proper response, shooting stunners and disarming spells diverting the Fake Eaters to them. Amelia Bones nodded in approvingly as she saw Harry side-stepping to avoid a cutting curse, and then answering with a accurate stunner. In a little less than two minutes, the teenagers had reduced the group to three elements.

Harry grimaced at this, taking his hand to his chest. He knew what was about to happen.

As they saw memory-Harry taking another wizard down, Hermione stumbled while dodging a _Reducto_ spell. Aiming her wand to the offender, she noticed, perhaps too late, that she was being targeted by two wizards, and was unable to throw up a defense in time.

Little did she knew that memory-Harry saw this as well. In a smooth move, Harry stood between the wizards and his friend, casting a _Protego_ to defend against the wizards' _Reducto_ and _Diffindo_. The reductor curse was the first to hit, being reflected in the shield and hitting the _Diffindo_ caster, while Hermione took the opportunity to bring the _Reducto_ wizard down with a fast stunner.

Unfortunately, as the reflected spell hit its target, breaking several bones and bringing him down in pain, the severing charm broke through Harry's shield, opening a rather nasty cut on his chest. Still, Harry held on, casting a stunner to the wounded wizard before falling on one knee, panting and bleeding rather heavily, while the Aurors finally arrived to the scene, which marked the end of the memory.

As everybody returned to the room, Ragnok raised an eyebrow. "Now that everybody saw that memory, I guess you can identify the reason why Mr. Potter managed to activate both contracts at the same time."

"Surely the shield situation?" mused Mr. Greengrass. "The way he placed himself to protect her friend... and the fact he was not surprised at all about the second spell... It was a very Hufflepuff attitude, taking a possibly lethal blow for a friend."

"And watching the way he cast that _Protego_, I'd risk saying he planned to reflect the spell to bring one of them down while Hermione stunned the other. Am I right, Harry?" asked the younger Bones.

"Both wizards were aiming at her. If I did nothing, she would have been hit by both spells. That was the best plan I could think of to assure we would come out alive from that. The _Protego_ absorbed most of the blow from the cutting spell, so the wound wasn't too serious. I knew the consequences of my actions before I stepped in to protect her."

Daphne stared at the young wizard, tenting her hands in front of her nose. "Planning ahead, Potter? That's not very Gryffindor. And the fact you disregarded your personal safety to ensure your plan would be successful was also a very Slytherin thing to do. Are you sure the Sorting Hat did not make a mistake?"

Harry shrugged. "The hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. I asked him to go to Gryffindor, so..."

"Anyway, I guess we know now that the moment Mr. Potter decided to go through with his plan was the moment where the contracts activated. He stepped on the line of fire to protect a friend and win the battle, regardless of his safety." concluded Madam Bones.

Ragnok nodded. "Indeed. Very well, does anyone have something to say regarding this matter?"

Madam Bones cleared her throat. "Harry, you had career counseling this year, correct?"

Harry nodded, remembering the memories of Professor McGonagall laying a verbal beating on Umbridge. "Oh yes. I mentioned to Professor McGonagall I was thinking about becoming an Auror. Of course... someone... tried... to dissuade me from that idea. They only managed to get the Professor angry." he grinned.

The head of the DMLE, much to the boy's surprise, gave him a toothy grin. "That's the Professor I know. Umbridge went in quite fast, since we heard those rumors about Blood Quills. And I think you'd make a pretty fine Auror, from everything I've seen and heard about you."

"Thank you, Madam Bones. Unfortunately, unless I sort up all the things related to my..." Harry still felt weird talking like this about his family "houses in the next two summers, I'll have to delay my candidature to the Aurors for some time."

"Well, I believe our discussion here is complete," suggested Ragnok. "Be free to use this room for any discussions. It also has a Floo connection, so you are free to leave at any time. I must apologize, but... other matters await me."

With a bow to Chief Ragnok, Susan, Harry, Daphne, Mr. Greengrass and Madam Bones left the Chief Goblin's room and entered the conference room indicated by the Gringotts employee.

The room, strangely, lacked the decorations usually seen in goblin rooms, instead of pieces cast from metal, the whole room was one big sculpture, with the granite stone walls carved in intricate geometric patterns, drawing the attention to some exquisite gemstones that were polished and charmed to emit a soft glow. In the center of the room, a wide table housed several comfortable chairs, everybody took a seat and, perhaps due to a prank from Fate itself, Harry found himself at the head of the table, with the Bones to his left and the Greengrasses to his right.

With his worries regarding the contract slightly lifted, he took the time to finally check out on the people that surrounded him. He already knew Madam Bones, and could see more than a few similarities between her and Susan. Their hair was quite different though. While Madam Bones was a blonde with short hair, Susan's hair fell past her shoulders and had a tone that wasn't neither red nor brown. Observing her discreetly, he noticed her movements were gracious, without worrying about what other might think of it. _'Typical Hufflepuff,'_ he thought, hiding a grin _'if one wants to walk at your side, they have to accept you as you are. Because you will do that as well'_. Her eyes, while very plain, let Harry understood that this young woman was someone that made lemonade with the lemons life gave her. He hid a shudder. He remembered reading old newspapers regarding the First Wizarding War, and he knew the Bones' had taken a pretty heavy blow, remaining only Susan and Amelia in that family's line. _'I wonder how many families were destroyed by that madman... and the ones to be destroyed when another madman rises.' _he mused to himself. Unfortunately, his next sentence was involuntarily muttered, earning strange looks from the others.

"What did you just say, Mr. Potter? Something about history repeating itself?" Asked Mr. Greengrass, staring at him with steel gray eyes. Harry noticed that his daughter shared his eye color, that hard steel gray that allied with her posture, earned her the nickname "Ice Queen".

"I'm sorry, I was thinking to myself... must have slipped off." Harry sheepishly replied.

"You were thinking of Dark Lords, right?" asked Daphne, turning her head to him. The boy noticed that as much as Susan was herself, Daphne tried to keep her "Ice Queen" persona at all times, possibly to stave off anyone that tried to get close to her due to her good looks, mainly her well-defined body, blond hair that fell upon her face and her cold, deep gray eyes. _'Not that Susan isn't as pretty as her... oh bugger, Sirius, out of my head!' _he chided himself. This was not the time to think how beautiful were his betrothed, even if that was the logical conclusion upon seeing them. Keeping his focus on Daphne's question, he nodded. "Yes, I was thinking about those madmen... and the disgrace they brought. But that does not matter for now," he smiled, visibly relaxing. "Now, how about we introduce ourselves properly? I know Miss Greengrass and Miss Bones from Hogwarts, but I'm afraid Madam Bones and Mr. Greengrass are a mystery to me," he explained.

"Well, I guess we could start with you, Mr. Potter," Amelia mused, winking at her niece.

Harry nodded. "Very well. I'm Harry James Potter, but I guess you knew that. I'm going for my sixth year at Hogwarts as a Gryffindor, how I managed to get that far is a mystery to me." Laughs filled the room at Harry's successful attempt to break the ice, partially because Harry managed to because a small sponge of information in the last month. "I currently live at Grimmauld's Place, at least until the Potter Manor is cleared up. As you know already, I plan to become an Auror in the future and help the new Ministry as best as I can. By the way, once I move to Potter Manor, you are all welcome to visit. My experience shows that a big house without anyone is very boring."

"I'll remember your invitation, Mr. Potter," chuckled Mr. Greengrass. "I'll introduce myself, then. My name is Ewart Greengrass, and I knew your father, as you should know by now. I was an Auror, but retired when Astoria, Daphne's younger sister, was born." He seemed to struggle a bit with himself before adding: "Both James and Lily were good people, despite James' tendencies to prank everyone. I was in the same year, but in Ravenclaw. Oh, and call me Ewart, not this Mr. Greengrass formality." he smiled as Harry nodded. "Okay, but you have to call me Harry, then."

"Then I'm the only one left. I am Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. You can call me Amelia. I went to Hogwarts as a Hufflepuff, and joined the Aurors after the war, where most of my family died. I guess this is all."

"Thank you, Ewart, Amelia. Susan, Daphne, could you enlighten me a bit about you?"

"I have a better idea," interrupted Ewart before any of the girls could answer, "why don't you three go an take the rest of the day talking with Harry. I'm sure Harry is a gentleman, and perhaps it would be better if you acquainted yourselves without having us on your tails all the time."

"I concur with Mr. Greengrass," agreed Amelia, "you have a free Summer, start taking advantage of it."

Suddenly, the three teenagers looked very embarrassed. "Are you sure... I mean... ehh..." Harry scratched the back of his head. _'Open mouth, insert foot, oh look, not enough pepper today.'_ he scolded himself as he saw the amused faces of Mr. Greengrass and Madam Bones.

"Harry, are you planning to do anything improper to any of the ladies betrothed to you?"

The boy's eyes widened. "Of course not!" he said in his indignation. Then he noticed the smirks, and understood he had been played. Seeing there was nothing left to do, he decided to accept his defeat graciously. "Oh my, it seems I've been played. Very well, if those fine ladies accept, I'd be glad to be their company for the afternoon.

Both girls stood silent for a moment, before accepting Harry's proposal. Seeing their mission accomplished, Madam Bones and Mr. Greengrass decided to go back to their other duties, grinning mischievously. After all, Harry Potter, Vanquisher of Voldemort, Lord of the Houses of Potter and Black, two-times consecutive "most desirable teenager" on Witch Weekly (since the defeat of Voldemort he became every teenage witch's dream), gentleman-in-training and reserve Gryffindor Seeker (he asked Ginny to become the main Seeker) still had problems regarding the fairer sex.

After the adults left, Harry looked very embarrassed to the two girls. He had absolutely no idea about what to do next, so he decided to play by ear and hope he did not miss many notes. "Eh," he said, embarrassed, "do you have anything you want to do on Diagon-Al? I was thinking about going to Florian's later,if you agree, of course." he said, sounding insecure.

Daphne and Susan seemed to glance at each other before agreeing with Harry's proposal. "Florian's sounds fine. We could go to Madame Malkin first, though," said Daphne. Susan nodded, before adding her suggestion as well. "We could go to Flourish and Blotts, too. I have a book order that arrived yesterday."

"Seems fine," Harry said, relieved that the girls had something to fill the time. "One request, though. Could we stop at Quality Quidditch Supplies? I've got to refill my broom servicing kit..."

"Oh, right, I forgot you played Quidditch." said Susan, "Will you play for Gryffindor this year?"

Harry shook his head. "Only as a reserve. Ginny did a good job as a seeker, so I guess it is time to pass the torch. Quidditch is more like a hobby to me. I played, had a lot of fun, but it is time to pass the torch to somebody else." his eyes seemed unfocused, like he was staring at some place far away. "Too much had happened... no, I guess I'll never be able to see Quidditch as I saw it until the fourth year."

"Real battles tend to do that to people. Dad explained it to me when you returned..." Daphne abstained herself from finishing that sentence.

"When I returned with Cedric's body?" Harry asked softly, focusing once again on the girls.

Daphne nodded. "Yeah... I mentioned it to dad back then, and he seemed concerned about you."

"Probably because your Mr. Greengrass saw it as well while working as an Auror. Auntie said to me once that she couldn't sleep well for a month after seeing one of her friends cut down." mused Susan.

Harry raised an eyebrow. "So, what about leaving this conversation about death behind and actually enjoying the day?"

Daphne was the first to raise from her chair "Well said, Pot- sorry, should I call you Harry?"

"Just call me with the name you're most comfortable with. I don't want to impose on you. It goes to you as well, Susan." he replied, turning to see the ginger-haired Hufflepuff, who nodded in understanding.

The three teenagers went to the door, and made their way to exit Gringotts, determined to enjoy the day and forget about contracts, Dark Lords and Hogwarts for a while.

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><p><strong>Harry is on his first date... sort of. I had one or two nasty ideas to put here to fill the quota of one innuendo per chapter, but decided not to write it (Or at least write it on the next chapter).<strong>

**Until then, Feedback is apreciated! Give Ideas!**

**Sayonara!**


	3. The First Date

**Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Harry Potter. End of file.  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Diagon-Al<strong>

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The warm summer sunlight greeted the threesome as soon as they left the bank's door. Harry couldn't help but smile at the sight of the street before him.

Ever since the defeat of the Dark Lord, the very mood around Diagon-Al seemed to change. Where people before walked around constantly looking over their shoulder, expecting a Death Eater to come out of nowhere to kill them, they walked know without a worry in the world and a smile in their lips. After living for so many years unsure of what tomorrow might bring, the very concept of being somewhat safe once again seemed to breathe new life into the economy itself. Buildings who were closed for years were once again occupied by new shops, born from the ideas of several young wizards. In fact, Harry and Gringotts were behind these new stories, analysing business ideas and loaning the seed capital at low rates, requiring instead a part on the ownership of the store. This initiative helped Harry's yearly profits, as several of those shops were revealing themselves as a success inside certain ages. The older, wealthier wizards looked for the gourmet shops, seeking rare imported delicacies, while the youngsters sought the clothing shops with the latest trends in the Muggle world.

"Knut for your thoughts?" asked Susan, noticing his thoughtful face.

The green-eyed wizard shook his head. "Ah, it's nothing special, just looking at how lively the place is today." he answered, waving his hand to indicate the various shops.

"Father said last week that all these shops are helping with his businesses." stated Daphne, earning a raised eyebrow from Harry. "What is the matter?" she inquired.

"I just remembered Ewart never told me what was your family business." the young wizard replied.

"We deal mostly with the logistics and supplying potions ingredients... well, we're not called Greengrasses for nothing, you know?"

"I see," said Harry. "I've talked with the owners of the new shops before, your logistics are surprisingly... Muggle."

The blonde shrugged. "Muggles are way ahead of us in many levels, we just keep an eye on their research results. Let's be honest, they keep challenging what they know while we..." she waved around, trying to make her point.

"Stick to what works?" quipped Susan, looking around. "Maybe it has something to do with how long we live?"

"No offence, but I find that most magicals are a bit like... Umbit... err Umbridge." Harry said. "I mean, magicals mostly stick to traditions and then we have the whole muggleborn stuff. Fear of change itself." the green-eyed wizard said, narrowing his eyes, "And yet, this fear may be the reason why wizarding Britain is slowly dying."

The ginger haired teenager sighed. "You're talking about how muggleborns seem to leave as soon as they finish Hogwarts, don't you?"

Harry nodded. "Yes. The idea behind these new shops was to try to keep muggleborns here. Also, I couldn't help but notice the number of seats belonging to extinct families in the Wizengamot. I mean, those seats are being disputed between two or more houses, and that doesn't allow for other families to replace the dead ones. I can't help but pray that the more liberal Houses understand that the Wizengamot needs new blood and coordinate their efforts to see to it."

"Then why don't you raise the question?" the Slytherin ice queen asked, obviously interested in Harry's thoughts.

The boy smirked. "I did. I had some words already with the Lady Longbottom and Lords Diggory and Dawlish. They seemed to understand my idea, but advised me to spend some time watching the Wizengamot sessions so I could see who could support the cause. After seeing how half the things there are cloak-and-dagger stuff, I must agree with them."

Further conversation was interrupted when they finally arrived at Madam Malkin's. Once inside, Harry was making an effort to avoid running in a screaming fit.

The girls were trying new clothes. And he was sure they were about to ask him if it looked good on them.

Suffice to say, Harry's tastes in clothes, especially female clothes were rather stunted. Not because he lacked fashion sense, as his clothes proved it wasn't true at all, but because it involved females. There was no way in hell that he could give his opinion without becoming a blushing, mumbling mess.

"Harry, do you think this dress looks good on me?" asked Susan, appearing before the teenage wizard clad in a silk blue dress, clearly showing her curves to the poor wizard. "Harry?" she asked again, seeing the boy opening and closing his mouth like a fish, trying to articulate a word while all his blood seemed to rush into his face.

Daphne chose this moment to enter the room, her too clad in a black dress. Of course, the Vanquisher of Voldemort chose this moment to fall backwards, his mind seemingly locked between embarrassment and a bit of delight at the sight before him... at least until he fell from chair.

"Uh..." the Hufflepuff seemed to take a few moments to process the situation, before chuckling. "I think we broke our betrothed."

"I'm sure he'll come to his senses soon. Then again, did he have a girlfriend so far at all?" asked Daphne, eyeing the pair of legs that were now the only part of Harry's that was visible to the girls.

"Apart from Cho Chang this year?" Susan bit her lip, trying to recall some relevant piece of information. "I doubt so. I mean, he is all the time with Granger, but they seem more like brothers than anything else. And we all know what happened with Chang."

The Slytherin nodded. "Malfoy sure had his fun describing that emotional train-wreck, although I'm sure that half of the stuff there were lies. Even if I had doubts, Harry's reaction here cleared them up quite nicely."

Susan frowned. "You don't mean Malfoy said that Harry..."

"... swung his broom the other way? Yes, he did. To be honest, I think that's what he hoped. We all know how Malfoy chases Harry." stated the blond in a matter-of-factly way.

The ginger-haired Hufflepuff tried to process that particular pieces of information. "Then Crabbe and Goyle..."

"As long as I know, nothing happened, although I wouldn't be against the idea of having those three out of the magical gene-pool."

"Believe me, we have some guys in Hufflepuff that should be removed as well."

"That Smith guy, I assume? They always boast they come from Helga Hufflepuff herself, but it seems that the fruit fell way too far from the tree." Daphne eyed once again the legs of the Boy-Who-Won. "Say, shouldn't we change back and bring Potter out of his heaven?"

Susan nodded, her lips curved in a smile. "I agree. Why did he go to the land of dreams when we're right before him?"

Moments later, the girls were helping a dreamy-eyed Harry Potter, who seemed to be a bit disappointed of having his moment of bliss interrupted. "I was having a good dream..." he whined.

Susan whacked him on the head. "And you were looking at the real thing before fainting."

"Not my fault you are gorgeous." he mumbled. A second later, he noticed they had large grins on her faces. "I said that out loud, didn't I?" he grumbled. The girls nodded, before kissing him in the cheek. "Remind me to tell you that more often, then." he said cheekily, as they were exiting the shop.

Daphne's face was already closed in her 'Ice Queen' persona, but in her mind she was flattered by his simple compliment. She heard many compliments from Slytherins before, but the glint on their eyes only spoke of lust. Harry's eyes, on the other hand, only showed genuine admiration for the girls.

Susan, on the other hand, did not worry with a cold demeanour. While she did not hold Harry's hand, as they were practically strangers before the meeting, she was walking so close to him that her arm was touching his. Harry had noticed that, but a grin from Susan made him understand that was anything but accidental. The teenagers made their way towards the book shop, being mercifully spared from wide-eyed gazes from admirers of the young wizard.

Once they entered the shop, Harry was tackled by a bushy-haired missile, who proceeded to give him a crushing hug. "Harry!"

"Hi Hermione." the wizard replied, trying to squeeze out of the hug and failing miserably. "Uh... could you please let me go? You're squeezing a bit too much." he asked sheepishly.

"Oh, sorry." the bookworm replied, embarrassed. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Oh, just escorting these fine ladies here." he said, smiling.

Hermione quickly looked at both witches, raising an eyebrow at the blonde Slytherin. "Never thought you would escort Daphne Greengrass, Harry." Daphne did not move a muscle, but she couldn't help but notice that the brunette seemed to be simply stating a fact, instead of making an accusation.

"Well, remember that Gringotts letter?" Harry answered, knowing that his friend would quickly made the connection.

"Oh... Oh! So they are..." the bushy haired girl let the sentence trail off, letting her guard lower somewhat. She turned to Daphne. "Sorry, it's just... well, Harry and Slytherins..." she said sheepishly.

The blonde nodded. "More like Harry and Draco-and-his-cronies, no?" she answered with a smile of her own.

Hermione chuckled. "Yeah, more like that. Did you finish the Arithmancy essay?"

Harry groaned. "Trust Hermione to talk about homework." he groaned, eliciting a giggle from Susan. Daphne seemed to have heard the tirade, since she gave him a sign to get going with Susan while she talked with Hermione. The twosome decided to left the chattering girls and moved to the counter, where the sales clerk was currently returning the change to a tall wizard. Harry stood behind as Susan handled her order, which took ten minutes to gather and package. As Susan fumbled with the book bags, Harry stepped forward and carried some of them to help her, earning a grateful smile from the Hufflepuff.

As they returned to the sore entrance, they noticed Hermione was still talking with Daphne, waving her hands with enthusiasm. Daphne seemed to hear her, giving her opinion every once in a while.

The black-haired wizard cleared his throat. "Ladies, I believe we're finished here." he said.

Hermione looked like somebody killed her puppy, but her sad face was quickly replaced by a smiling one. "I guess we can always meet another day, right?"

The girls nodded, perhaps thinking about some girl stuff, something that Harry had no idea about (obviously).

After a few moments, the trio left the shop, heading to their next stop. Quidditch Quality Supplies was very close to the book store, and the purchases there were done in a matter of minutes.

"Well, now that everything is done, how about that ice cream at Florian's?" Harry asked. Susan nodded enthusiastically, much to the amusement of the young wizard, while Daphne just gave a small smile.

Florian's shop was fairly crowded, although the threesome managed to find a table outside and enjoy the rest of their afternoon date.

"So Harry," started Susan, "what are you planning to do about school? You have lots of responsibilities to take care of, now."

Harry thought for a moment, collecting his thoughts. He noticed that Daphne, too, seemed interested in his answer. "I'm trying to do as much as I can, but there are some things that I'll have to do while at Hogwarts. I decided to drop Divination, and I'll use that time to have some Business Management classes with a private tutor. Speaking of which, I think Hogwarts could use a few optional classes for the NEWT years. I guess having some classes that introduce some stuff not covered by the regular magical education could help a lot when people leave school. I mean, people who choose to be healers would have an easier time if they had some basic healing classes while at Hogwarts, right?"

The Slytherin nodded. "I think you're right. Most people with specialized careers have to take classes with private tutors if they want to be at least competent on their jobs."

"Auntie said that those classes used to exist, but they were funded by the ministry, but Minister Bagnold cut the funds to support the Aurors back in the first war. Minister Fudge never worried about placing them back." Susan said, shaking her head. "I understand why Bagnold did that, but Fudge..."

"Fudge made a lot of cuts in the department budges." said Harry, rubbing his chin. "The strange part is, nobody knows where those funds were placed. We do know that Fudge didn't keep them for himself, though." What he didn't say what that most of Fudge's money came from the bribes from the likes of the Malfoys.

"Well, that's one more thing you should the discuss with the Lords, then." Daphne played with a piece of strawberry in her ice cream. "Wizarding Britain and the Ministry could reap great rewards if they work with people that do have an idea of what to do. I hear dad ranting all the time about some workers there that seem like they never managed to get an OWL on their studies."

Harry chuckled. "When I filed my emancipation, the guy there must have spent 15 minutes trying to understand what was that all about. I swear he was thinking about sending me to the DMLE about it. To be honest, I was thinking about going there myself to get an Auror or two to smack some sense into the guy. They really need to get some courses to learn to do their job there. The Aurors have the academy, at least."

"My, you sure seem to be very busy lately, Harry. Where have you been all these years?" Daphne asked. So far she had seen a side of Harry Potter nobody dared to see. He seemed to be a decent student, yes, but he was never one to be so... active.

"I think I was too busy trying to resolve mysteries and getting in trouble. Oh, and I had nothing to worry about. Apart from Voldemort, that is. Foiling plans from Dark Lords is a tiresome activity." Harry answered, grinning.

"Well, this is fine and all that, but don't you think we should get back?"

"Hmm, you're right Susan, I forgot how late the sun sets in the Summer." replied Harry. "I guess we can take the floo at The Leaky Cauldron."

Paying for the ice-creams, the teens left to the pub. The movement on the streets was dwindling already, although this was due to people heading home for dinner. Night time at Diagon-Al was also an interesting place to be, with some places open with live plays. Harry made a note on his head to return one day to that cosy little café that had live piano plays. Maybe Daphne and Susan would come along... and their families too, if they want. Harry didn't really think the girls would come alone with him at night, no matter how honourable he was.

"You're zoning out again, Harry." warned the blonde Slytherin.

"Sorry. I was just thinking." he paused for a bit before calling his Gryffindor courage. After all, they were already at the door of the pub. "Thanks for this afternoon. It was very good to let some steam go and be around some people my age for a change."

The girls smiled, pleased with the wizard's gratitude. "You weren't so bad either. Thanks for helping with the books." said Susan, winking at the young wizard.

Daphne had a playful look in her steely eyes. "You were a gentlemen today Harry. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky to have such a good companion for the afternoon." she said playfully. "But honestly, it was good to meet you like this. Our meeting at Gringotts only showed a small part of the Harry you really are. And I guess our next dates will show a bit more about you and a bit more about us, as well."

The green-eyed wizard's eyes showed his delight. "And I will look forward for our next date as well. Feel free to owl me, I'd like to hear from you again before school starts."

When the teenagers finally arrived at their respective homes, they had very different reactions, although the general feeling was the same. Susan was smiling like the cat that ate the canary, happy at the way their date went and the whole situation at Madam Malkin's. Somehow, she knew not everything in Harry's life was about the brave Gryffindor who charged into danger and faced death without bowing. Today, she met the kind boy who broke every time he saw a pretty girl on a dress. And she liked what she saw. At Greengrass Manor, was thinking around the same lines, the only difference being she was openly laughing at the memory of two legs in the air.

Harry, on the other hand, arrived calmly at Grimmauld Place, the scents of Kreacher's cooking reaching his nose. He sighed fondly as he took off his robe and placed it on a chair's back. He couldn't help but be thankful for a date that went right... apart from his small 'incident', which he wondered if it would be used as blackmail material in the future. With a snicker, he decided that if that happened, he deserved it. For now, however, he would be thankful to be betrothed to two beautiful witches... and leave it at that, before he remembered them in the dresses and fell off his chair again.

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><p><strong>And chapter 3 is done... whew, this one was hard to write.<strong>

**See ya!**


	4. Yes, It is an Hogwarts Express Chapter

**Disclaimer: I own... uh... something else than the thing related to Harry Potter?**

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><p>The rest of the summer passed in the blink of an eye. When Harry noticed, he was already grabbing his trunk to return to Hogwarts. He sighed fondly. Last year, he was just a scared boy, vilified by <em>The Daily Prophet<em>. This year, he was going to his sixth year as a happy wizard. There's not much that he could ask for. Exiting the steps of Grimmauld Place, he raised his wand, calling the Knight Bus and secretly praying that his stuff remained intact. Hedwig had gone ahead to Hogwarts, fortunately – there was no way in hell the owl would suffer another trip on the maddest method of transportation in the wizarding world.

And what a crazy ride it was. After ten situations where the buildings jumped out of the way, two scared kneazels and thirteen old grannies almost run over, Harry finally arrived at King's Cross, straightening his jacked and desperately trying to stay on his feet. "Bloody bus, can't have a trip without fearing for my life," he muttered, dragging his trunk to the platform area.

King's Cross, as usual, was brimming with people, making Harry pass almost unnoticed. Almost being the key word. As he discreetly walked toward the wall between platforms nine and ten, two soft-skinned hands covered his eyes, forcing him to stop.

Now, Harry never had that much physical contact with members of the fairer sex, but somehow, he could clearly tell to whom did those hands belong, as the long nails softly touched his forehead. "Hello Daphne." he said, his lips curling upwards in a smile as he turned to face one of his betrothed. "Fancy to see you here, I was expecting to find you on the other side." he looked past the beaming smile of the young Slytherin, noticing the other Greengrasses. "Good morning, how are you today?" He greeted politely.

"Hello Harry. This are my wife, Lillian, and my youngest daughter, Astoria. I'm sure you've seen her on Hogwarts already." Ewart replied.

Harry bowed slightly. "Pleased to meet you Mrs. Greengrass, Astoria. Ravenclaw, Fourth year, right?" Astoria nodded enthusiastically, while Lillian shook her head. "Just Lillian, Harry. Mrs. Greengrass makes me feel like a old woman." Harry couldn't help but notice that if Daphne was her father's daughter, then Astoria was the copy image of Lillian, with her brown eyes and hair. While that made her somewhat plain, the grace of her movements made her an interesting woman.

"My apologies. Well, it's almost time for the train to go, shall we get to the platform, then?" asked the green-eyed wizard, who was answered with a nod as Astoria rushed to the barrier.

Lillian shook her head, as she too walked towards the barrier. "Always rushing..." she said, as she stepped through the illusionary wall. Ewart looked amused. Daphne had a slight smirk on her face.

"Well, ladies first. Come on Daphne, or Harry here will lose the train by being a gentleman." teased the older man, ignoring the mock stare his daughter gave him before passing the barrier.

Harry sighed. "Well, this is it. A new year." he stated, pushing his cart towards the brick wall, as he did for most of his years at Hogwarts.

Susan Bones looked at the entrance to the platform 9 ¾ for what seemed to be the hundredth time since she arrived there. She was still outside the train, looking to escape from Hannah's endless teasing, but in truth, she was anxious to see Harry again. She couldn't explain why, but the raven-haired wizard had found a place in her dreams, and she had to admit those dreams were... pleasant, considering the situation she was thrown into. She couldn't really claim to know him that well, despite all the owls the trio traded after their first date in the sunny Diagon Alley.

After a few moments of thumb fiddling and nervous stares, the ginger-haired Hufflepuff finally saw Daphne coming out from the entrance, shortly followed by her father and Harry. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, Susan sketched a smile and advanced towards the group, waving to get their attention. Daphne was the first one to notice the Hufflepuff, giving her a slight smile and nudging Harry with the elbow to draw the boy's attention. Harry turned his head to the blonde, a silent question in his face, until he recognized the approaching teenager. "Susan!"

The ginger-haired girl quickly made through the crowd, approaching the group and giving Harry a tight hug. "Hi Harry." she said, blushing slightly as she realized how tight was the hug. "Hello Daphne, Astoria, Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass." she greeted the other members of the small group formally, but with a smile on her face. Daphne raised an eyebrow towards Harry, who quickly acknowledged her silent request with a wink.

The other Greengrasses greeted the newcomer, obviously amused at the little game the threesome was playing. To mess around with any observers, the three teens played with Daphne's reputation, keeping some semblance of formality when in public. Of course, they would eventually drop the act, but they were having too much fun playing their current roles.

"Well children, it's almost time to go. Have fun, take care, and don't forget to write us, okay?" said Lillian, receiving nods from her daughter and Harry. Ewart just looked sternly at Harry. "You do know what I'm about to say, don't you?"

To his credit, the boy wasn't scared. An afternoon spent talking after a Wizengamot meeting allowed him to know his father-in-law quite well. "Uh... Make her cry and I'll kill you." he replied cheekily.

Lord Greengrass' mouth drew an amused grin. "Not that much, I'd just make you wish you were dead, but I know you won't let her down. Now, off you go, or you'll end without a compartment to stay."

The group moved towards the carriages, Daphne trying to find somebody in the crowd. Harry was about to ask her about that when a smiling brunette appeared right by the carriage's door. Daphne smiled at her long-time friend. "Trace! Now we can go." she said, approaching the door.

After they were all settled in, courtesy of Hannah getting a compartment for them, Daphne glared at her betrothed. Harry lifted an eyebrow, blushing madly. It's not like he had forgotten about her request, it was just his Gryffindor courage that had ran away in fear. Biting his lip, he put an arm around her shoulders, squeezing lightly and praying that he was doing it right.

To his relief, he glare faded and she kissed him in the cheek. "Harry is a good wizard," she said, smiling. Harry barked and made a happy face, causing the entire compartment to burst into laughter.

The laughter was cut short as the compartment door opened, showing the usual trio of Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle.

"So Potter, filling the shoes of the other mutt?" drawled the blonde, that only then noticed the other occupants of the compartment. "And you two, I expected better. A Slytherin knows better than to mix with blood traitors and half-bloods."

"Bugger off, Malfoy." snarled Tracey Davis, glaring at the blond ponce.

"My, my, language Miss Davis... how much did Potty pay you?" Malfoy replied.

"You forget, Malfoy_,_" Harry replied, his voice and face showing only coldness, "that I am the Lord of the Houses Potter and Black. You have Black blood in your veins. We both know what that means. Hear me well, because I'll only say this once. You'd better leave Davies and Daphne alone, or we will have _words_. That applies to Susan and everybody else as well."

Malfoy's cheeks reddened slightly, as he sneered towards his old enemy. "Oh, so you call her Daphne? I wonder-"

His words were interrupted by Harry, now in his 'Lord Potter-Black' persona. "Watch it Malfoy, any insults directed to my betrothed or their friends will be taken as an insult to the Houses of Potter and Black.

"Add the house of Bones to that, too." said Susan, her wand drawn, fuming with the ferret's nerve.

"And the house of Longbottom." another voice was heard, as Neville, with a stern face and his wand pointed at the Slytherin trio, decided to make his presence known. "Get lost Malfoy, unless you want to have even more Houses ticked off at you."

Draco just looked at the small group with a disgusted expression. "Watch it Potter. Accidents happen..." and turned his back to the group, his mind set into walking away... or at least it was, since he tripped in his first step and fell flat into the floor.

"Oh my, you're right Draco. Accidents do happen." quipped Harry, as the blond got to his feet and rushed away, his mind set into avoiding another humiliation like the one he just suffered. Neville just ignored the humiliated Slytherins and sat on the last available seat in the compartment.

"Thanks for the help there Neville." said Harry after giving Daphne a reassuring nod. "Too bad the ferret never thought about silent casting." he said, revealing his right hand, so far hidden beneath his robes, grabbing the tip of his holly wand. "Tripping jinxes can be useful, I guess." It was only then that Harry noticed something else. "So, how's you new wand?"

Neville grinned. "Gran was so proud when she head what happened that she took me straight away to Ollivander's. Thirteen inches, cherry with unicorn hair. We got the pieces of dad's wand and placed it on a box in the living room."

Harry smiled, remembering the shy Gryffindor's role in the Department of Mysteries. "Everyone is proud of you mate. You really held your own out there." he said, making his friend blush and making Hannah and Tracey look at Neville with something resembling admiration. "We need to work on your blushing, though." the green-eyed wizard added cheekily.

Susan just grinned mischievously as she hugged Harry tightly, resting her head on his shoulder and making him blush as well. "Pot, meet kettle." she simply said, causing everyone in the compartment to burst into laughter.

The trip continued with the six teenagers talking about their summer. Of course, of all the people there, Harry had the least interesting one... or so he thought. Before he noticed, the conversation had been hijacked into Harry's first Wizengamot meeting, much to the boy's despair. Once again, Neville turned out to be his saviour, as he pulled up a deck of Exploding Snap. The ensuring game had him being thoroughly trounced, with his betrothed nudging him occasionally and making the cards explode on his turn, with a burst of laughter ensuing from the girls, who seemed to be having fun at his misfortune. In Harry's opinion, seeing them like that was worth a thousand singed eyebrows, so he kept playing just to get one more smile from them.

But, of course, all fun had to end. In this case, the fun they were having so far was ruin by one certain red-haired student. "Have you seen- Hi mate... wait, what are you doing with those snakes?"

Behind him, Hermione sighed. "Ronald, I thought I had told you that already? Sorry. Ron here is a bit... narrow-minded."

"Bloody hell Mione, It's a snake. Two of them! He can't trust them! They'll kill him for what he had done to You-Know-Who!" the redhead ranted, oblivious to the murderous looks from the people inside the compartment.

The bookworm sighed, exasperated. "That's not for you to decide Ronald! Harry had a contract that his father signed! And do not call me 'Mione'!"she said, looking apologetically at the Slytherin girls.

Harry shook his head, noticing Daphne's hurt look. He pushed down the rising anger he was feeling, taking a deep breath. 'I will not strangle Ron, I will not strangle Ron... okay' He turned his gaze to the redhead. "Ron, I'm going to say this only once. First, Slytherin is not made of Malfoy clones. Second, Daphne's father was in the Aurors with my father, and he was a Ravenclaw. Do not label her just because she is a Slytherin. I kept my mind open about it, and I don't regret it.

"But she's a Slytherin! A snake! Lions and Snakes don't match! Ow- what was that for! And what the hell are Malfoy clowns!"

"That," said a very angry Susan Bones "is to teach you to shut up! And if you don't stop with your babbling, it will be much worse than just a Stinging Hex!"

The green-eyed wizard was seething beneath a calm demeanour. "Ron. Apologize."

"Mate, Slytherin! Why should I apologize to a filthy snake?"

The boy shook his head. He was dreading this confrontation since Daphne showed him what was a true Slytherin. He really tried to keep his cool, maybe try to subtly make his friend see the truth, but the redhead had his mind set in stone. "Then bugger off!" he shouted, fed up with the heard-headed teenager.

"Fine! Be like that, you'll come back saying that I was right!" Ron shouted back, turning his back on the group. Hermione just stood there, her gaze alternating between the red-haired prat and the people in the compartment.

Harry just shook his head. "We know Hermione. Don't worry, we'll talk later, ok?" The girl shook her head and quietly closed the compartment's door, mumbling something about strangling the prat for being a Malfoy clone, Gryffindor version.

"Daphne, are you alright?" asked a concerned Hannah, surprising Tracey, who was about to ask the same thing. The grey-eyed Slytherin shook her head. "Yeah, I'm okay, he just got me with my guard down."

"Ron sometimes is..." Harry paused, trying to find a word to describe his not-so-best mate. Neville, however, had the perfect word. "Prick?" he said, eliciting a chuckle from Harry.

"Yes, he can be a prick, so don't worry about what he says, because I don't care about his opinion." Harry said, letting her rest her head in his shoulder. Of course, at this time, he had both girls resting their heads on his shoulders, a fact that was not missed by Tracey, who winked saucily. "Awww, isn't he the sweet talker. Is there anyone else like you out there?"

Harry blushed once again, but had the presence of mind to turn his head and stare at the Longbottom scion. The Slytherin brunette giggled at the message conveyed by Harry's action. Poor Neville, with no idea of what's going on, tapped his wand on the Exploding Snap cards. "So, let's continue? We still have a few hours before we arrive at Hogsmeade."

The rest of the trip, fortunately, was a peaceful one, with Harry once again getting the short end of the stick due to the interference of a certain pair of witches. By the dime they arrived at Hogsmeade Station, all the talk about blond ferrets and red-haired prats was forgotten, and the six teenagers quickly sought an empty carriage to take them to the castle.

Before they stepped inside the Great Hall, Daphne slightly pulled Harry's sleeve, forcing him and Susan to stop. "Harry, Susan, please wait a second. There's something I want to tell you."

"Hmm? What is the matter?" asked Harry, intrigued by the way she stopped them there.

"I just wanted to tell you to watch your back. Most Death Eaters may be in jail, but their kids are still here. Malfoy's warning got me thinking about it. People wouldn't dare to go against Harry, at least face-to-face, but many Slytherins think that cunning is hexing someone from behind... just take care, okay?"

Susan nodded. "I see where you're getting at. Please make sure you're not alone, too. You're the closest to the Slytherin house, so it makes sense you'd be the first to hit."

Harry sighed. "Just when I thought I could relax for a bit. Listen, try to find someone you trust. If anything happens, I'd like you to have someone that can warn me. Same goes to you Susan. What I said in the train, both to Ron and Malfoy... I-I mean it. You are... family to me, and I look... for my own. " his voice was straining to keep even, betraying his anguish at the simple prospect of having them hurt, despite barely knowing them.

Susan and Daphne stared at him, completely surprised by how... vulnerable, how fragile he seemed to be while discussing this problem, thinking that they could be hurt just for being close to him. This was not the Boy-Who-Lived, that faced Dark Lords and lived, nor the Lord Potter-Black that had ideas to change the wizarding world. This was Harry Potter, the teenage boy that yearned for someone who could be close to him, after an entire childhood where he was lonely and despised by his own relatives. However, they quickly snapped out of their stupor and hugged him, trying to remind him they were still there, safe and sound. He just returned the hug, holding them close, feeling them _there_, right next to him.

After a few moments, when he calmed down, he broke the hug and nodded. "Thanks, I needed that. I remembered something, too. I could ask Professor McGonagall to see if there are any separate quarters. If you're in danger just by being in your House, we could just move out. However," he said, cutting the protests from the girls, "I'll only ask her if both of you agree with this. I don't want to make any decisions about us without speaking to you first."

Daphne smiled sadly. "I hope it never comes to that, but I agree with you. Thanks for asking me first, though."

"Hear, hear." said the ginger-haired Hufflepuff, smiling. She knew the Hufflepuffs would never let her down, but she could understand Harry's concern about them, and she would be lying if she denied that knowing that someone would be there, looking out for her did not leave her with a warm feeling in her chest.

"Well, then it is settled. Is that all?" asked Harry, relieved with the prospect of having a backup plan. "Yes? Then let's go, I can already see the boats coming through the lake."

The threesome walked towards the Great Hall, separating to go to their respective House seats. A new school year was starting, and there was much to do.

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><p><strong>One more chapter done.<strong>

**Also, the carriages. I don't exactly remember how many people they take, but i'm going to assume that they take as much as a train compartment, meaning each one takes six people.**

**See ya!**


	5. The First Night

**Disclaimer: The usual stuff. I can't think of a witty remark to place here anyway.  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Hogwarts, Deputy Headmistress' Office<strong>

**.**

Harry rubbed his temples while waiting for his Head of House to sit down. The feast had gone without incidents, apart from the stares people kept giving him as the slayer of Voldemort. Now, he was standing before Minerva McGonagall, preparing to inquire about the feasibility of the backup plan for the teenagers.

"So, Mr. Potter, could you explain to me why did you want to meet me so soon?" the Transfiguration teacher asked, sitting on her chair and eyeing the suddenly nervous teenager.

The boy fiddled with his thumbs for a few moments, summoning his Gryffindor courage. "I guess I should start at the beginning... do you know about what happened to me this Summer, right?" he asked, his voice surprisingly even.

Minerva nodded slowly. "Mr. Potter, I do not forget an attack..." she was interrupted by Harry's head shaking in denial. "Not that Professor. I'm talking about something that happened after that."

The Scottish woman raised an eyebrow, before her eyes widened as the knut dropped. "I see, you mean your betrothal with Miss Greengrass ans Miss Bones."

The young wizard nodded. "That's right. During the trip to Hogwarts, we had an..." he hesitated for a few seconds, trying to find a neutral word "... interesting... conversation with Draco Malfoy. That raised us a few suspicions about the welfare of my betrothed."

"And you fear that someone may harm them to get to you." the Head of House said.

Harry nodded. "Exactly. Marriage contracts were common in the past so I came here to ask you if there are any separate quarters for people in our situation. Of course, they won't be needed unless someone raises a wand to harm them." he sighed, his expression turning grim. "Merlin help the fools who do that." he muttered darkly.

McGonagall eyed sternly the young wizard. "Mr. Potter, I sincerely hope you do not go out on a rampage if someone hurts those fine young women." her lips curled slightly upwards. "Warn me and Professor Dumbledore first. But please, try to restrain them so we can hand out their punishment. You do not want to give Madam Pomfrey too many patients, you know how she gets. As for your question, yes, there are quarters for betrothed cou..." she did not finish, noticing word did not quite apply to her student's situation. "three..." again, she fell silent, until she sighed in annoyance "whatever the name that applies to your situation. I'll have a word with the House Elves to keep the room ready, just in case. Are you okay with this?"

Harry smiled. "Sounds good to me. Thanks Professor."

"Now, Mr. Potter, about Quidditch... are you really sure you want to give up your position?"

"Yes, Professor. I've been thinking and I decided that I should pass the torch, give a chance for new players to try their luck. Of course, I'll be available to give a hand in case the regular Seekers are unable to, but I'm not planning to play."

"I see." the Transfiguration teacher reclined herself in her chair. "I'm sad to hear that, but I respect your decision. Now, if that is everything, I guess you should return to the Gryffindor Tower."

"I will Professor. Good night."

"Good night Mr. Potter."

As her young lion left her office, she smiled to herself. Harry was not the little shy boy that entered Hogwarts any more. She couldn't help but feel proud at how he has grown into a fine young man.

**.**

**Slytherin's Sixth Year Girl Dormitories**

**.**

Tracy Davis looked around carefully, checking if all the other girls were asleep. Seeing that they were indeed in the arms of Morpheus, she sat on her friend's bed and closed the curtains.

"So," she asked with a grin, "what were you three discussing at the entrance?"

"I was asking Harry and Susan to take care. I can't help but think about Malfoy's words. Harry said that he would check out if there was an option in case somebody attacked us."

Tracey's grin faded immediately. "Now that isn't good. You were there, hugging, so I thought it was something good. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Harry got very worried about us when I told him about the possibility of attacks, that's why we hugged him."

The brunette Slytherin raised an eyebrow. "Nothing to do with the fact that he's close to a girl's Prince Charming?" she asked with a lecherous grin.

Daphne smacked her friend on the head with her pillow, smiling widely. "Head out of the gutter, it's my Harry you're talking about!"

"_Your_ Harry? Is it just me, or you're falling even harder for him?"

"Oh Tracey, what can I say? When I found out I was betrothed to someone, I never thought it would be to Harry. Not only that, but I meet the _true_ Harry. And yes, I'm falling for that Harry. He has the political and magical power, but he's also gives a damn about me an Susan. Actually, I notice he tries his hardest to keep us happy. Remember the Exploding Snap game today?"

Tracey tilted her head, not getting her friend's point. "Yes, but what does that have to do with everything?"

Daphne rolled her eyes. "Did you notice what we were doing to him? And that he never stopped, despite being burned all the time?"

Tracey was silent for a few moments, before nodding. "He didn't stop because you were having fun."

"Right. How many boyfriends would do that just to keep a smile on your face?" the grey-eyed Slytherin replied.

"Point taken, although I noticed Harry hinted us to someone else like him..." the brunette trailed off, a twinkle in her eye denouncing her thoughts to her long-time friend.

"Neville Longbottom? You're going after him? Well, Harry said he was a dependable guy... but I think Hannah was starting to notice him as well..."

"Hmmm..." Tracey bit her lip, thinking. "Do you think she would mind sharing?"

The eldest Greengrass sister blinked twice, before smacking her friend again with the pillow. "Cheeky minx, you are. You'd kill the poor guy if you did that."

"Do you think so? He went to the Department of Mysteries, after all..."

"Harry defeated the Dark Lord, but passed out when she saw us in dresses."

Tracey stared at her friend. "You're kidding."

Daphne chuckled. "Nope, passed out and fell from the chair. He did make a quick comeback, but the truth is that we managed to break him."

**.**

**Hufflepuff's Sixth Year Girl Dormitories**

**.**

"So Susan, what news from the Harry front?" asked an eager Hannah Abbott, grinning like the cat that ate the canary and its family.

Susan merely raised an amused eyebrow. "The same news as the ones on the letters I sent you. Really, Harry did not went farther than that. What you saw in the train is everything that goes between us three."

"Wow. Most of the boys in his situation would have tried something already. Looks like he is quite the gentleman."

"Oh, he is. We had to make him blurt out all his frustrations with the Wizengamot, he was keeping all to himself just to avoid bothering us. We gave him a thorough lecture on how we didn't mind if he talked about it with us. He just seems to keep his worries to himself. I wonder what caused that."

Hannah found that strange. "He never talked to you about his home life?"

Susan shook her head. "He never said a word regarding his life before the Department of Mysteries. We decided not to push him about it. He seems to avoid it like the plague."

"Sounds like something bad happened to him... but he will have to face it one day." her face turned into a mask of sadness as she absent-mindedly traced a pattern on the bed's blankets with her finger, concentrating on anything but the tears that seemed to be coming. "We all have to face our ghosts one day." she said, trying to fight the knot that formed in her throat.

Her ginger haired friend shook her head and held her hand. "Hannah, don't go there, okay? I thought we were over this already."

The girl nodded, sniffing. "Sorry, it's just... you know, sometimes... my guard comes down like that."

Susan squeezed her friend's hand. "Then it's my job to make sure your guard comes up again." sitting closer to the blonde, she placed her arms around the girl and squeezed tight. "I'm here Hannah. You can let it out until you fell better."

Hannah did not need to be told twice. Tears immediately drew trails across her face, as she sobbed on her friend's shoulder, fighting hard to put those sad memories back on the hole where they belong. "Thank you Susan." she said, her voice barely more than a whisper. "Thank you for sticking with me when I'm like this."

"We're Hufflepuffs. We... actually, scratch that. We are first and foremost friends. I won't leave a friend when she needs me. Besides, what would Neville say if he caught you like that?" the girl asked, waggling her eyebrows.

That had the effect she hoped for. In the blink of an eye, Hannah had stopped moping around and was resolutely cleaning her face, smiling. "Right, so you caught me there."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Even Harry got you. You have quite the competition, though. Tracey Davis was also very interested on Neville."

The blonde Hufflepuff said nothing, but she had a gleam in her eyes that Susan knew all too well. It was the look Hannah had every time she accepted a challenge. The ginger groaned. "You are going to try to get to him first. I know that look too well."

Hannah rolled her eyes. "At least you won't be able to complain that the year is being too boring."

"I knew since this Summer that my remaining years here were going to be interesting. You're just making it even more exciting."

"Susan, you always were an adrenaline junkie. Remember that poor tree? It never managed to look the same again after what you did with it."

"Hey, not my fault, it was accidental magic!"

"But you wanted to turn it into a catapult. Not to mention the Muggles who gathered around the tree."

Susan had the decency to look embarrassed. "Yeah, that..." she blushed, remembering the small crowd of literal tree huggers that believed that tree was good luck. She was lucky her Aunt didn't punish her hard for it, apart from taking her "Wacky Muggles" book collection. "I'll never live that down, will I?"

Hannah's only response was a mischievous grin.

**.**

**Gryffindor Tower, Common Room**

**.**

Harry stared at the book, trying to focus enough to actually understand what was written there. His first night in the common room had started with a complete flop. Heck, the Great Feast was not better either, with most of the Death Eater kids giving him sore looks. Yeah, their parents ended up in jail, but nobody forced them to take the snake-faced bastard's mark! Let them bear the consequences of their actions. If their kids were butthurt over the issue, they'd better not involve him into their messes, or there'd be hell to pay.

Then came the common room, and the row with Ron regarding Slytherins. Again. Harry was thankful he managed to learn some Occlumency, else he'd have decked the git right there. He stubbornly refused to see that Daphne was not a dark wizard, heck, he ignored the fact that she was betrothed to him. But that's the way the prat went. He couldn't deny that he wished that Ron came to his senses and apologizes, but that was wishful thinking.

Sighing, he tried to focus once more in the book, detailing the mechanics behind most of their sixth year transfigurations, but alas, it was in vain. He closed the book with a bit more force than needed, trying desperately not to start smashing stuff at random.

"You don't seem to be all right, mate."

Harry turned towards the source of the comment, finding a smiling Neville Longbottom there. The other Gryffindor sat on a nearby sofa, staring intently at Harry. "Still thinking about the row?"

Harry nodded, not bothering to vocalize a reply. The Longbottom scion sighed. "He's being a prick, not to mention he can't see other way other than his own. Hermione felt like strangling him in front of everybody."

The green-eyed wizard chuckled. "Trust Hermione to bring a definitive solution to the problems. So, mind explaining why you're here at this hour?"

The boy seemed embarrassed, as he opened the bag he carried with him. "I've been studying the past year's books. I asked Gran for a permission to use magic during the vacations so I could train it. I managed to catch up with the current spells, but I'm keeping the old routine of reading the books for a bit and test some things there."

"So that's your secret," the raven haired boy chuckled. "That's why you've become so confident in this Summer!"

Neville said nothing, but the blush on his face showed perfectly his emotional state. Harry laughed at his friend's reaction. "Don't get like that, I'm being honest with you. You changed a lot this summer, and it was for the better. Now that we talk about it, you also seem more fit."

"Well, Gran said she was very proud of me with the whole Department of Mysteries stuff, and things just went from there. I think I just needed her to give me a little nudge. When I noticed, I was already practising spells like mad and working out until my muscles ached."

"That's great. I think you'll be a better dueller this year."

The Herbology prodigy beamed with happiness. "You sure about it?"

Harry grinned. "Well, 25% of a fight is all about knowing when and how to move around the battlefield. Remind me to lend you a book I have on my trunk. I'm sure you'll enjoy reading it."

"Thanks Harry. Will you keep the DA working?" the boy asked hopefully.

Harry shook his head. "No. The Defence Club is now an official part of the school though. I've been talking with Dumbledore to see if we could invite some veteran Aurors from the whole world, so we could get a taste of how things should look like. Oh, and I'm one of the people responsible for coordinating the Club, along with Professor Snape and Professor Flitwick."

Neville shook his head. "I still don't understand how can you and Snape go along civilly."

"Call it an understanding. We did some Summer hunting with Dumbledore, and we managed to get some things straight. He loves potions a bit too much, though, so if he sees something not quite right, the Snape-hole rises."

Longbottom raised his eyebrows, trying to process the last part of Harry's answer. "Snape-hole?" he finally blurted, before bursting in laugher and eventually dragging Harry with him. "But really," he said, finally managing to control his mirth after some minutes "Snape-hole seems strangely appropriate."

"Well, I did say to him that he went beyond the normal range of an asshole when he ranted about poorly made potions. The term just came from there. He actually seemed amused, to have an insult with his name on it. It really caught me off guard. And cost me a month of cauldron scrubbing and thickness measuring."

"Wait a second, one month? You were scrubbing cauldrons for three months that year!"

Harry smiled sheepishly. "I kinda offered him a T-shirt saying 'I'm a Snape-hole, hear me rant' by his birthday."

The laughter returned, this time louder. "That one is going to be a Patronus-worthy memory, Harry."

The young wizard whined. "You didn't hear the best part: he actually wore that shirt in the Muggle world! A huge hit with the women, it seems."

Neville actually fell out of his seat from the laughing fit he had. Both teenagers were now teary-eyed, their chests hurting from so much laughing.

"Oh my," he said, "I haven't laughed like this in ages. Really Harry. Snape-hole. I hope he says that in his classes someday."

"If he does," said Harry, "I'll share the memory with you. Couldn't have you missing on all the fun, right?"

"Right you are, mate. Thanks for all this. I had a really good time with this conversation, but I guess I'm going to bed. I've got to get up at 6AM for my morning run."

"Hey, mind if I join you tomorrow?" asked Harry, getting to his feet and stretching himself.

The boy smiled. "The more the merrier. Just don't be late."

"Neville, we are in the same dormitory. It is a bit hard to miss someone getting up... at least when Ron and Seamus have their curtains closed."

"Harry, don't make me laugh again. My chest is hurting enough from that last round."

"I'll keep that in mind when I try to crack another joke."

"Very funny, Harry. Do you crack jokes when you are snogging your betrothed?"

Harry's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "I do not sn- bugger." he said, when he noticed the triumphant smirk on Neville's face.

"I knew it, you're not snogging them! The question is why, though." the other boy said, eyeing Harry with an inquiring expression.

"It's just... I don't know them that well. Yes, they grew on me, but I don't feel ready to take that step, and I don't want to force them either. They seem happy with the way things go right now, so I assume I'm making the right choices." the green-eyed wizard managed to say, after a few moments of silence.

The Longbottom scion nodded. "I noticed that as well. I may not know that much about this, but I do know enough to see when people really like each other. And Daphne and Susan like the Harry Potter that is here right now. I guess you just have to by yourself, but do me a favour, okay?"

Harry just managed to articulate a "Sure," as he was still trying to process the fact that Neville knew almost nothing about girlfriends, but had an eye to understand the dynamics of his relationship.

"Please give me some advice when I get a girlfriend?"

Harry just nodded, mentally laughing at the awkwardness of the whole conversation since the subject turned to 'girls'.

"All right then. See you tomorrow. Don't forget the morning run!" Neville said, climbing the stairs to his dormitory.

"I won't. Goodnight, mate."

* * *

><p><strong>Whew. Another one. Yay!<strong>

**Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!**

**See you next chapter!**


	6. Morning Run and the First Day

**Disclaimer: I own nothing regarding Harry Potter.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Gryffindor Tower, Sixth Year Dormitories<strong>

**.**

"So, Harry, ready for the pain?" asked Neville, grinning at the muttered answer that came form his friend. Harry's hair was even messier than usual, not to mention he was still trying to shake the cobwebs out of his brain, as his attempt at dressing his trousers as a shirt showed. "Uh, Harry, you do know the trousers aren't meant to be used as shirts, right?"

The green-eyed wizard eyed his friend, then shifted his gaze to the trousers, then again to Neville. "Hey, it's six o'clock in the morning, give me a break, okay?" he groaned, this time dressing the trousers correctly... almost.

"Harry, I didn't know your pockets always flapped outside like that." the usually shy Gryffindor was almost bursting with laughter right now at how much of a morning person the young Lord wasn't.

Harry cursed under his breath, this time finally managing to dress himself without any more incidents. Neville's face, however, threatened to give him lots of embarrassing moments. "All right, let's go then." he said, trying to prevent any more embarrassing moments.

Ten minutes later, the teenage wizards were running towards their first stop, Hagrid's hut. Despite being somewhat cold, it wasn't enough to dissuade them from doing Neville's exercise routine.

"So, Nev, which courses did you take?"

Neville did not answer right away, as he was focusing on keeping his breath even. "Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration, Hagrid's Pets, and Arithmancy. Oh, and the Management and Government classes. You?"

Harry shook his head. "Pretty much the same, although I have Potions instead of Arithmancy. Hagrid's Pets?"

The Longbottom laughed. "It's funnier then 'Care of Magical Creatures'. Besides, it's true as well."

"True, true. Wonder what will Hagrid show us this time? Will they be able to bite, poison or petrify?" Harry asked, a grin on his face. Hagrid didn't meant to threat the student's lives, but his definition of 'cute' animals was a bit different than a normal wizard's.

"I'd go for biting, although I'm willing to bet he'll try to have Quintapeds for one of the classes."

"Quintapeds? They live on an unplottable island. I don't think Hagrid would be able to get one. On the other hand, he already managed to get dragon and a Cerberus, so..."

"I swear it Harry, if he gets a Quintaped, I'm bugging out of there, Gryffindor bravery be damned."

"You and me, mate. I'd rather face another Horntail. Heck, I'd face the bloody Basilisk! Speaking of which, we're here already. Where to, now?"

"Hmmm..." the boy mused, checking the time. "I reckon we still have time for a few laps around the Lake. You up to it?"

"Sure, lead the way!"

The two wizards resumed their morning exercise, the sun lazily rising to the east and bathing the landscape in orange, warm light.

"Neville? Have you ever wondered why wizards are so fearful of the first asshat that calls himself a Dark Lord? I've been giving it some thought during this Summer, and I wonder if it would make a difference if the normal people fought back with numbers."

The other wizard shrugged. "I don't think so. You saw the Minister last year. If the leaders bury their head in the sand, then the rest of the people... well, you get the point. But does it matter any more? You kicked Voldemort's arse, after all."

Shaking his head the green-eyed wizard sighed. "History repeats itself, mate. Remember there were more than one Dark Lord throughout the ages. Voldemort was a powerful wizard, yes, but what if the Dark Lord of the decade is like Fudge? Run away in fear from a barely competent wizard? That doesn't sound too smart."

"Hmm, Fudge as a Dark Lord..." the Longbottom heir snorted. "that one would be a kick to see. But I see where you're getting at. We do keep waiting for someone to come and save us. Now that you think of it, I don't understand why we do that."

"See? That's what I mean. Wizards and witches have wands, they can fight for themselves. Now think about the Death Eaters in the World Cup. What would happen if every decent wizard there went for their hides?"

"Point taken, Harry. The Death Eaters would have to retreat... or maybe they could be captured?"

Harry nodded happily. "Right! Decent magic users are like an irregular army, a militia of sorts. If they're alone when attacked, they should run yes, but if they have the advantage of five or ten to one, do you really thing your average Death Eater can defend against ten curses? As long as they're decent and well-aimed, of course. And then there's the whole psychological issue, but even with that, the wizarding population still has the advantage."

"Jeez, Harry, you're on fire with that subject, eh?" Neville joked, seeing his friend rant endlessly.

The teenage Lord shook his head. "It's just... there are things in wizarding Britain that piss me off. I'm working to solve one of them, but for every one I manage to solve, ten more come up!"

"Easy there mate, don't blow a ward stone. You're not looking at it like I do. I've been hearing stories from Gran, and I reached the conclusion that politics are like plants, they take time to grow and develop. Just keep it steady."

Harry actually stopped for a moment, tilted his head in thought and burst out laughing. "You know, I never thought about that. I saw too much work and started ranting. I've gotta say, you make a pretty fine advisor."

"We're Gryffindors, we don't think." joked Neville. "But seriously, you had a lot of lessons on politics, but you didn't have the regular upbringing of our Houses, so it's normal that some of the finer details slip through. Just... if you find something that makes you want to rush to fix it, think about it thoroughly at first. You'll see it is easier to handle the problem that way."

"Bloody hell. That's the second day in a row you're giving me advices. That's it, I'm hiring you as a personal advisor."

This time, Neville was the one that stopped. He slowly turned towards Harry, face carefully neutral... and promptly started laughing. Harry tried to raise an inquisitive eyebrow, but soon found himself contaminated by Neville's mirth.

Somehow, those cold morning runs were starting to look a lot more attractive.

**.**

**Hogwarts, Great Hall**

**.**

By 7:30, both boys were taking their breakfast, after taking a shower and dressing their school uniforms. Harry, noticing that none of the girls was up yet, walked with Neville towards the Gryffindor table.

"That eager to get rid of me, Harry?" his friend ribbed him good-naturedly. Harry, now wide awake, did not miss the chance to rib him back. "No, just wondering if they would be interested to take their breakfast with us... and take their friends along to ogle at you.

Predictable, Neville blushed like a tomato, making Harry grin mischievously. "Oh, don't be like that, you should know you're becoming a girl magnet."

"Prat." the Longbottom scion muttered, shaking his head. "You're seeing things."

"Want to bet on that? One Galleon says that the girls are keeping an eye on you. Just pay attention, but don't be too obvious."

"You have the devil's luck Harry, I'm not betting on that." grumbled the teenager, taking some bacon from a platter. The green-eyed wizard just gave an irritating knowing smile before attacking his own breakfast. Merlin, he was starving!

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Longbottom, good to see you're up this early." came the voice of their Transfiguration teacher. "Here you have your class schedule for the weeks. Also, Mr. Potter, Professor Flitwick asked if you're available this evening to start working on the Defense Club."

"Good morning Professor McGonagall," greeted the boys, taking their schedules. "Thanks Professor. I think I'm free for the evening. Where's the meeting?"

The stern witch nodded. "In his office, around 8:30. You should have time to have dinner and do some of your homework."

"I see. Thank you Professor." Harry said, waiting until she walked away to turn to his breakfast once again.

""So, any ideas for the stuff you'll teach at the club?"

Harry sighed, shaking his head. "I'm not sure, last year was more like I was teaching what I could get my hands into. Professor Flitwick is a duelling champion, so he has a better grasp on the stuff to teach. There are a few strategies I've heard about that could be useful, but I guess I'll wait for tonight's meeting before planning anything."

"Good morning Harry!" purred a female voice at the boy's ear. The green-eyed wizard blushed. "Good morning Susan. Sleep well?"

"Yeah, I was missing my Hogwarts bed. What, the blankets are fluffy." she said, noticing the stares of the boys.

"Susan here is a sucker for fluffy stuff." said Hannah, having overheard her friend's answer as she approached the small group. "Here's your schedule."

Harry beamed. "Since you have your schedules, you've got to sit and take breakfast with us. Good morning Hannah."

"Morning Harry, Morning Neville." said boy yelped as Harry nudged him with an elbow. "Oh. Hi Hannah." he stammered, embarrassed. Harry and Susan traded knowing glances as she sat next to him. Plan 'Get Neville a Girlfriend' was initiated.

"So, Harry, sleep well?" the ginger-haired girl asked, winking at the boy.

"I slept quite well, thanks." he said. "I was a bit worried with... that, but since our little plan works, I'm relieved."

The girl nodded happily. "Good to hear that. So, what's your first class?"

"Potions with Snape. Oh joy." Harry said, with a mix of sarcasm and amusement, "Rest of the morning is pretty tame, with Management and Government there. What about you?"

Susan opened the parchment with her schedule and grinned. "Guess we'll be together on those two classes, then. I have DADA for the first class, though. Got to be well-rested then."

They turned their attentions back to their breakfasts, enjoying their time together. After a few minutes Harry finished his breakfast and wiped his leaps with the napkin. "All right then, I'm going to make a quick visit to the library before going to the class, okay? See you in Management." Harry said, finishing his breakfast and giving his betrothed a kiss in the cheek and a quick hug, before running out of the Great Hall.

He quickly stopped however, as he met up with Daphne as soon as he left the hall.

"Good morning Daphne, Tracey," he said, keeping the usual façade, but managing to slip some notes of cheerfulness on the greeting. "Sleep well?"

The blonde gave him a smile and a gentle squeeze of her hand. "I've had a good night, thanks. What about you, you are up quite early today?"

"Neville and I went running this morning." he said, grinning at the interested look on Tracey's face. "He's quite the runner, too. Anyway, I was going to the library before going to Potions. With some luck, the three of us will be together on Management later today." He said, winking at Daphne. "See you in Potions!"

"Wait!" she said, stopping him before he could run out to the library, "I was wondering if we could go to the lake a bit before our afternoon classes."

He nodded happily. "Sure thing." he said, before resuming his running to the library.

**.**

**Potions Lab**

**.**

"Can't you read the instructions? You must add the quills before you stir the potion. Five points from Gryffindor." Snape said, vanishing the contents of Ron's cauldron. Harry schooled his features to betray no emotion. A part of him was glad Snape was not finding anything wrong with his potion, while the other one was a bit sad for Ron's failure, no matter how bad the discussion had been. Sighing, he returned to his potion, carefully counting the slices of Solomon's seal before adding them to the potion. Much to his relief, the colour of the potion matched the expected result, white-ish blue that was the tell tale sign of the Soothing Potion, used to treat burns. He happily bottled his potion, delivering them to Snape, who said nothing, but gave a slight nod of approval. It wasn't much, but coming from the usually sour Potions Master, it meant a lot. He slowly stowed his books on his backpack, giving time for the other students to leave. There was no way he'd lose this chance.

After everyone else left, Harry walked to the door, finding Daphne and Tracey there, looking at him with an inquisitive look. He brought a finger to his lips, in a silent request for them to keep quiet, and closed the door.

"Bloody idiots can't follow some simple instructions, I mean, they just need to know how to read, but no, let's make mistakes and blow things up. Gah, I need a time off these dunderheads. No, I need to get a job somewhere away from them! ..." the rant went on for quite a while, much to the amusement of the three students.

Harry shook his head, smiling. "Never fails. Let's go, before he finds us here eavesdropping." he said, "It's just too funny to see Snape like that."

The blonde checked her watch. "That's why you went to library so soon?" she asked, amused with the whole scene.

"Yeah, I know Snape can rant for quite a while before calming down. I shouldn't be doing this, but it is just way too funny to miss."

**.**

**Hogwarts, Flitwick's office**

**.**

"Professor, may I come in?"

"Oh, Harry, come in." the Charms Professor replied. "And drop the titles on the door, here we are colleagues. Call me Filius."

The day had gone pretty smoothly after the Potions lesson. The betrothed threesome ended up on the same class, as they hoped for, and spent some time near the lake, making mostly small talk and enjoying each other's company.

The afternoon was, for the lack of a better term, boring. Hagrid did not manage to get any Quintapeds of any other fluffy pets, so they ended up talking about Augureys. While the Irish Phoenix was a pretty interesting animal and Harry liked it quite a lot, he also felt some slight disappointment at not having his life (or at least his limbs) threatened by some fluffy creature, by Hagrid's standards.

Now, after a quick dinner, Harry was sitting on a comfortable chair right in front of his Charms professor, along with Snape.

"So, Harry, do you have any ideas for the first session of the Defense Club?"

Harry scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "I was actually going to ask you for advice regarding that. Last year I just taught whatever spells I knew and some I found on books, and I figured you'd have some suggestions for spells this year."

Snape snorted. "You, thinking. What is this world coming to?" he said, trading mock glares with the green-eyed wizard.

"That's a good idea." nodded Flitwick, "What spells did you cover in your meetings?"

"Well, we were mostly focused on duelling, so I helped them with the Stunner, Shield Charms, Disarming, _Diffindo_, _Reducto_... oh, and the Patronus, just in case it got handy."

"The Patronus? How many managed to create one?" asked the Charms professor eagerly.

Harry grinned. "All of them managed to create corporeal Patronuses, at least in practice. If they'll hold against the real deal, that's another story, though."

"Nevertheless, that it a very good result, Harry. You seem to have some talent for teaching."

"How about silent and wandless spellcasting?" asked Snape, smirking. Haryy narrowed his eyes at him, but gave his own smug smirk.

"I'm not that good at it, but I managed to teach them some wandless basic charms. I managed to get one or two silently, as well."

"Well, that's a good point to begin." quipped the former Duelling Champion happily. "Anything else?"

"Using the surroundings during a duel. I read a book on moving during fighting and I think it would be a good thing to talk about on the meetings." Harry stated, lightly rubbing his chin. "Of course, we have to make sure they can actually move, so some exercises would be good, right?"

Both professors nodded. "A good physical shape increases your magical reserves as well. One of my apprentices used to run on... what was the name that the Muggles gave it... it's a long-distance run, I don't quite remember. I do remember he could keep up for quite a while." said Flitwick, trying to remember the name that his apprentice had told him

Harry nodded. "Marathon. So the magical reserves are tied to the endurance?" he asked, ideas flowing through his mind.

Snape nodded. "Partially correct. Each wizard and witch has a 'base' reserve, and the fitness only adds to that amount. Then there's the amount of control the wizard or witch has over his magic, but that can be trained. One more thing to the list, I suppose?"

The Charms Professor nodded. "So we have physical training, control training, wandless and silent magic... I suppose I can teach some creativity when using spells, along with a few new ones to widen your range of spells. Transfiguration can also help. Conjuring shields or other solid objects can stop curses."

Harry couldn't help but have an idea at that. "Riot shields. If we could conjure some, transparent material, like... say, quartz, we could see our enemy and block the curse."

"I see your point," said the half-goblin teacher, "but what's a riot shield?"

"Oh, it's a Muggle weapon that their Aurors use. Some models of them are made of transparent plastic, but I don't think plastic would be too good to stop curses." Harry said, ideas flowing very fast on his head. "We could do some tests, though. It could even help the DMLE in the future."

Inwardly, Severus Snape smiled at the boy's insight. 'Lily's son all right.' the proudly thought. However, his face did not betray his thoughts, neither did his voice when his voiced his opinion. "That is an excellent idea. I can't help but wonder if Muggle materials would be effective, and if we could add a few potions to improve them further."

Flitwick was enthusiastic by now. Despite being a former dueller, the scholar and Ravenclaw in him was throwing a rave in the perspective of doing a breakthrough in an entirely new area. "That is an excellent idea! The progress we could bring is..."

When the meeting ended, one hour later, the three wizards had a small list for the Defense club, and a huge one for their little 'research project'.

* * *

><p><strong>Done!<strong>

**A new project rises... what will happen?**

** Merry Christmas!**


	7. Small Steps

**Disclaimer: As usual. I don't really have anything witty or funny to place here.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Gryffindor Common Room<strong>

**.**

"Harry, what's with the shield?" asked Hermione, raising an eyebrow at the wizard, who playfully hid his face behind the transparent polymer and stuck his tongue out. The girl rolled her eyed. "Really mature, Lord Potter. Now, do you mind explaining what are you doing with a Muggle riot shield?"

The green eyed wizard grinned as he walked towards the witch, sat down and rested his forearms on the shield. "Research with Professor Flitwick and Snape."

"But that's a Muggle item, you can't enchant it! Don't you remember what happened with the flying car?"

Harry just laughed. "That law has a loophole. We can enchant items, as long as we don't use them. So, we're merely making research to see if riot shields are effective against spells and what can we do to give them a boost. We're not using them... although we could have a word with the DMLE and add our shields to the list of allowed objects. After all, we're doing this for the Aurors."

Hermione nodded. "That makes sense... but why using a rectangular shield? You want the Aurors to do the _testudo_?"

"Te-what?" the wizard asked, tilting his head.

"_Testudo._ It's a formation used by the Roman Legionnaires. The outer lines make a shield wall, and the inner lines hold their shields above their heads."

"Ah," the wizard nodded, thinking about the witch's explanation and shaking his head after a few moments, "no, I don't think so. Send them a _Bombarda_ and watch them flying." He tapped the shield, a one metre high, sixty centimetres wide slab of magically-enhanced polymer. "This is just a test shield, we're trying various types and materials and see what works best. I had quite the surprise, too. I thought the plastic wouldn't hold against a single spell, but it actually held against some of the weaker ones. Of course, once we got to the real business, they broke like glass, but a magical shield would fall as well, so it was worth it. And we still have to work on the enchanting itself."

"Who are you and what have you done to Harry?"

"Wha-?" the boy looked at his friend, before frowning. "Right, show some semblance of a brain and people will start saying you aren't yourself any more." he grumbled, much to the laughter of Hermione.

"Sorry, Harry, it's just... I never thought you'd become a researcher, of all things." she explained after regaining her composure. "But now that I think of it, of course you would research something that can be useful."

Harry grinned. "Yeah, I'd rather get my hands working... not that way!" he squeaked as she sent him a glare. "Get your mind out of the gutter Hermione!"

"You are a teenage boy Harry. You're betrothed to two girls, and you've been meeting them for a while now. How do you expect me to keep my mind out of the gutter?"

The young wizard raised an eyebrow, thinking on a suitable answer. He didn't find a single one, yet he tried his luck. "Because I'm Harry? You know, can't handle girls without becoming a mumbling mess, grumpy in the mornings?"

"A right prat sometimes, a great friend and a gentleman?" she asked, smiling. "Sometimes you are so silly, Harry. I was just kidding, I got what you meant the first time."

The boy sighed. "You scared me there. Oh well, I'm going to get some rest, gotta wake up for the morning run with Neville. See you tomorrow Hermione."

"Good night Harry." the girl replied, returning to her book.

Harry dragged himself to his dorm, silently thanking his luck for having bought a new trunk this year. There was no way on Hogwarts that the shield he was carrying would fit on his old trunk, besides, storing the shield in another compartment would keep things nice and tidy. He ignored Ron's glare as he entered. For the last month, the redhead had been shooting him dirty looks, much to the displeasure of pretty much the whole Gryffindor House. There was a time, two weeks ago, where he wanted to punch the twit's face until his nose met his spine. Now? He realized Ron is not even worth the effort. Harry kept ignoring the redhead, now muttering insults under his breath, and closed the curtains of his bed. He had a long day tomorrow.

**.**

**Hogwarts, Seventh Floor**

**.**

Harry quickly walked down the hallway leading to the Room of Requirements, checking his watch. 'Good, still on time,' he thought. He stopped right before the door, took a deep breath, and only then he entered the room.

"Hi Daphne," he said, nodding respectfully. She just stared at him, before erupting into laughter. The green-eyed wizard laughed as well, as he sat by the Slytherin and hugged her. "Merlin, this formal thing sure is tiring!"

"You can bet on that. Sometimes during lunch or dinner I just want to sit right besides you and Slytherin be damned!" he said, waving her hand. "I've got to thank Susan for arranging this so we can have some time alone."

The boy sighed fondly, playing with a lock of her blonde hair. "Yeah, she's being very understanding with this situation. I've really got to do something to thank her for all this." he said, staring into the distance.

Daphne smiled, resting her head on his shoulder and placing her arms around his waist. "I'm helping you on that. I owe her as much as you do."

Harry nodded. "Thanks love, I'm not very good on that, usually."

"You're welcome," she said, before noticing something else, grinning mischievously. "Oh, now it's Love?"

"Uh? Oh... it slipped. I'm not sorry for saying that, though." he replied, grinning cheekily.

The girl kissed him on the cheek. "Good," she purred, squeezing his waist slightly, "you have no idea how good that feels... love."

The boy chuckled. "I do now," he quipped, only then taking the time to check the room. "Pretty interesting space you have here. Some room on your house?" he asked his betrothed, admiring the paintings on the wall and the pine wood furniture with vegetation motifs engraved.

"It's the place where we usually spend our evenings." she replied, pointing to a small table with a radio on it Wizarding Wireless usually passes a classical music show by that time. I usually read a book while listening to it. It makes things..."

"Relaxing?" the Gryffindor asked. Daphne nodded. "It is quite the coincidence, I was tuning through the channels once and stumbled upon that show as well. Quite the way to spend the evenings, just the fire, something to do and the sweet, sweet music."

"You never cease to amaze me Harry. Do you have any favoured composer?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't pay attention to the composer. I just listen to the music and relax. If I have nothing else to do, then I just let my mind drift... it feels good." he grabbed his wand and waved it slightly towards the radio, activating it and filling the air with a magic way different from the one used by wizards, as the different instruments weaved their melodies. "Perfect." the young wizard whispered, wrapping his arm around the blonde Slytherin and closing his eyes, a soft smile in his face.

Daphne followed his example and closed her eyes as well, drumming her fingers softly to the rhythm of the song. "Harry?" she asked, after the music had ended and a new one had taken its place.

"Yeah?"

"I've been meaning to ask something to you for a while now... you changed so much in just one summer. How come you've become so lively in one summer?"

"You're not the first person to ask that, you know?" he said, looking at the ceiling. "I've thought about that during this last Summer. I guess... I guess things changed because Voldemort is dead. I used to have nightmares with Cedric, my parents... then Voldemort was gone, and so were the nightmares. Things became easier from then on. Of course, waking up knowing I'll see you girls is a very good part of my happiness, too."

The blonde chuckled. "Pull the other one, it has bells on it."

Harry shook his head. "I'm serious. I don't know if it was because Voldemort is dead, but you two... I don't know how to explain it. Do you know what super-glue is?"

"Dad got his fingers stuck with that once."

The boy laughed, turning his gaze to the Slytherin. "That must have been quite the adventure, then. Anyway, I just feel like we met that day and just... bonded. It's hard for me to explain, but I've never opened up to anyone as I did to you two. It's like my instincts told me I could trust you."

"I'd normally say you're buttering me up... if I didn't feel the same way with you." the witch admitted, locking her eyes on his. "Why do you behave like this?"

Harry blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Half of the boys on this school would need a rolled paper on their noses to behave after one or two dates. Going to the lake isn't exactly a date, I reckon, but you never tried to press the issue, and we've been going there for a month." she explained.

Harry shrugged. "I don't want to mess things up, but I'm not sure on what to do, that's why. So I stick to what works as long as you're happy."

Daphne chuckled. "I was expecting something like that. Trust you to care for others before yourself. I don't mean it as a bad thing," she said quickly, noticing the boy was about to complain, "I think it's very noble of you. Thanks, but try to believe in yourself as well."

"Uh... you're welcome," he replied sheepishly, "and I'll try to keep your advice in mind."

The girl shook her head fondly. "That reminds me. Is there any instrument you can play?" she asked, silently making a request to the Room.

Harry scratched his chin with his free hand. "I had some piano lessons on a library activity a few years ago... I've been playing every once in a while, though, so my playing is far from perfect."

"How about we play something, then?" she asked, opening a case with a violin inside. "Some families make sure everybody knows how to play at least one instrument."

"Hmm, I see." the Gryffindor mused, asking the Room for a piano, "Well," he said, getting to his feet and walking towards the black, wooden grand piano that had just shown up nearby, "any ideas about what to play?"

"How about... Für Elise, or Ode to Joy?"

"Ah, maybe Für Elise, then? I never tried Ode to Joy before." Harry replied, testing the piano and wincing as he missed some keys. "Err... Let me try again." he said sheepishly, adjusting the score sheets and resuming his play. This time, the music resembled something close to decent. "All right, looks like I still remember some things. Shall we?"

The witch nodded, and the pair started their impromptu duet. Daphne managed to keep up with the music flawlessly, while Harry missed some keys, but nevertheless managed to make a pretty solid play... at least until he hit the point where the music's beat changed.

"No way in hell I'm getting this one straight without some big practice." he said, wincing as he missed some of the most complex parts. "At least it's just a few notes..." he sighed as the music returned to the best-known notes, at least to the general public. Daphne rolled her eyes at the faces her betrothed kept doing every time he missed a key. It's not like he was murdering someone, after all.

When they finally finished the music, they turned their heads towards the clapping that was heard. Susan, Hannah and Tracey were there, having slipped in while they were sill playing.

"Oh, hello Susan. It is time already?" asked Daphne, placing the violin back in the case.

The redhead nodded. "We still have some time before curfew, but since we still have to walk to our rooms..."

"Thanks Susan. Well, let's get going. Care to escort us to our common rooms, Harry?" the blonde Slytherin said.

"I'd be happy to." the wizard said, closing the lid on the piano and walking towards the girls. "Where to first?"

"The Slytherin dorms are the closest from here, so..."

Harry nodded and opened the door. "Ladies first, then." he said with a slight bow. The girls giggled and curtsied in response, before leaving the room. Shaking his head in amusement, the boy left the room as well, watching as the door vanished, leaving only a solid wall behind.

The journey to the Slytherin common room was fairly quick, mostly due to a lucky streak in the stairways and Harry's knowledge of hidden shortcuts.

Once they approached the door to the common room of the house of snakes, Tracey just waved to the group and wished them good night before entering, while Daphne turned towards Harry and Susan. "Thanks for the night," she said, knowing that both of them would understand the meaning. "I'll see you tomorrow. And don't forget about it, Harry." she said cryptically, making Harry wonder about the meaning of her words, at least for a while. Susan shifted her gaze between them, and inquiring expression on her face, to which Daphne just winked. Susan understood what she was trying to say, though, as her lips curled upwards. "All right, see you tomorrow Daphne." the redhead replied.

"Sweet dreams, love." Harry whispered at her ear as he hugged her, finally decoding her advice. The girl returned the hug end entered the common room, where Tracey was waiting for her anxiously. "So, how did it go?"

Meanwhile, in the corridors, Harry and Susan were silent, while Hannah was giving the duo some knowing looks, having caught the message between Daphne and Susan. The blonde wondered how long would it take for Harry to spit it out, whatever it was.

Harry, on his side, was wondering how should he break the silence. He felt like his brain entered in lockdown when it came to conversations. He just couldn't find something useful to say, apart from talking of the weather. The weather inside the castle, how silly. He couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"You seem to be very amused, Harry." quipped the redhead.

"Sorry, it's just... I was thinking about the weather." he said. "The weather... inside the castle." he chuckled again. "That was stupid."

"I've got to agree on that, Harry. But why were you wondering about the weather?"

"I... uh... yeah... today was sunny, wasn't it?"

Susan laughed softly. "You dummy. All this time and you still lock up if we don't start the conversation?"

Harry pouted. "Not my fault I can't be around you without becoming a stuttering mess!"

"Well, at least you don't faint any more."

The boy blushed. "It was just that one time... and I had good reasons."

The Hufflepuff grinned. "Last time you tried to flatter us too."

"Tried? I thought I managed to do it." the Gryffindor replied, as they approached the Hufflepuff common room. "Well, I guess this is good night, then."

Susan wished this walk could last a little longer. "Yeah..." she said, disappointment lacing her voice.

"Wishing this could last all night long?" Harry asked, after a few moments of silence. Susan merely nodded. "So do I, love... So do I." he said, voice barely more than a whisper.

He never expected the Hufflepuff to hug him very close. "About time you loosen up," she whispered, beaming, "I was wondering what was keeping you."

"I said it to Daphne already: I don't want to make a mistake by stepping too soon." he explained, returning the hug. "I don't want to hurt you, that's why."

"That's very silly of you, but I understand where you're getting. Don't forget one thing, though. We trust you to do the right thing. I was really starting to worry about you, it seemed like there was something eating you up."

The green-eyed wizard made a face. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to-"

His speech however, was interrupted by Susan, who placed a finger on his lips. "Say no more. You already explained yourself, and I was not blaming you. Now, you should get moving, or you won't reach the Gryffindor tower on time."

"Right... Thanks." he said, reluctantly ending the hug with Susan. "I'll see you tomorrow then. Sleep well... love." he added quickly, after a playful glare from the redhead, who kissed him on the cheek and disappeared through her common room's door. Harry shook his head fondly, and headed towards his common room as well. He felt lighter now, as if Daphne and Susan's words had taken a weight off his shoulders. Thinking about his actions until now, he couldn't help but agree with the girls. He was being stupid, and trying to second-guess everything could end up backfiring on him. He nodded, a resolution on his mind to trust himself a bit more in the matters of love. If people trusted him, that might be because they had reasons to trust him. And if he didn't know what to do... well, ask Hermione, perhaps? She was a girl, after all, she might have the insights Harry needed to make his decision.

Shrugging, Harry gave the password to the Fat Lady and entered the Gryffindor Tower, checking around the common room. Hermione, as usual, had fallen asleep in front of the fireplace. Trust that girl to forget she had a bed while she was reading. Shaking his head in amusement, Harry conjured a blanket and covered his friend with it, gently prying the book she was reading from her fingers and placing it in the table next to her, before he finally climbed the stairs to his own dorm room.

All in all, it had been a good day for him... and it would be even better if he managed to catch some decent sleep before tomorrow's morning run with Neville.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, it's official. For me, writing scenes that are too fluffy is a major problem.<strong>

**Well, see you next time!**


	8. Hogsmeade

**Disclaimer: Always the same thing, yes.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Hogwarts, Great Hall<strong>

**.**

"So, Miss Bones, would you give me the pleasure to escort you on your Hogsmeade visit?" Harry asked with an exaggeratedly formal tone.

Susan snickered, shaking his head at the young Lord's antics. "I'd be honoured, Lord Potter." she said, offering her arm.

"Good, because I'd be without a date for today." the teenager grinned, holding her hand. The redhead smiled. "Aren't you forgetting about Daphne?"

The green-eyed wizard winked. "Daphne went ahead with Tracey. Today, you are the centre of all my attention."

"Which means you two planned this by yourselves." the Hufflepuff replied with a smirk.

Harry sighed. "I guess it is that obvious. We wanted to thank you for giving us some time to be together at night."

"Don't worry about that, Daphne has it harder than I do. Still, it's good to have you all for myself for today."

"Thanks. Well, let's get moving then." Harry said, walking towards the carriages that expected the students. Most of them were already occupied by the students, but the couple didn't feel like sharing a carriage today, walking instead towards one of the still empty ones, closing the window curtains and locking the door to ensure nobody would bother them.

"So," Susan started, hugging the teenager, "we have forty-five minutes until we arrive to Hogsmeade."

"How about some crosswords, then?" Harry asked, his face carefully neutral.

The girl stared at him, trying to process a response. "Crosswords?" she asked, watching as her betrothed started laughing. "It's not funny," she complained, "crosswords, frankly."

Harry shook his head, cuddling her. "Do you really think I'd suggest crosswords? I'm not good at them, anyway." he admitted, nuzzling her.

The redhead ignored him, although he noticed she was stealing glances at him every now and then. "Prat," she eventually said, "trying to make me think you don't care."

"Well, I'm a shoddy liar."

She chuckled, resting her head on his shoulder. "That's the only thing keeping your cute butt from being kicked out of the carriage."

"Cute butt? I thought school robes hid everything." Harry replied, looking at her intrigued, before recalling something. "Oh, right, Quidditch."

She gave him a peck on the cheek. "More like what we say when you got up from the chair back in Diagon Alley. Robes may hide many things, but when you got up it was a bit hard for us not to notice you have quite the backside."

"Uh, thanks, I guess?"

"Not good enough."

He kissed her forehead. "Is it better now?"

She smirked mischievously. "Better, but not perfect. You still have a long way to go, but we'll get there."

"Susan, I-"

"Shh, I know. You're starting to take the initiative, though, so you're making progress. Don't worry, we'll help you on that."

Harry blinked, mouthing the words 'help me?'. She rolled her eyes in amusement. "Just shut up and enjoy the ride, Harry."

The teenager wisely decided to follow her advice, concentrating on the pleasant feeling of her head resting on her shoulder, her hands wrapped around him... her shapely waist. Yes, he could shut up and enjoy the ride.

"So," she said, after some minutes spent in silence, "where will you spend Christmas?"

"I thought you wanted me to shut up? Just kidding!" he hastily added when she glared at him. "I'm waiting to see if Potter Manor is fit for living again before the Christmas holidays. If that happens, I want to invite our families to spend Christmas there. I can't think of a better way to... christen the house." he rolled his eyes at the unintentional pun.

"That's a good idea Harry. If that happens, you can count on me to be there, even if I have to drag Auntie along."

"That's good to know. Grimmauld Place feels... heavy. I only lived there because there was no other choice so far... and Kreacher is keeping the place very tidy, and we cleaned most of the... well, crap there was inside. A troll leg? Please. Walburga Black's painting? I gave her three tries, she learned it."

"Well, no offence, but it used to belong to the Blacks. But what do you mean, you gave her three tries?" the redhead asked, intrigued.

"Well," Harry smirked, "I kindly informed her that I was the heir of the House of Black, and I wouldn't tolerate her screaming like some harlot. I said that I was feeling generous, and I was giving her three chances for her to shut up and respect everyone that I invited to my home, or I'd deal with her, Black style."

"Black style?"

Harry grinned evilly. "I wouldn't stop until the painting and the frame were burnt to ash. No quarter."

"That was pretty nasty, you know?" the Hufflepuff said, looking at him in the eye.

The boy simply shrugged. "She was waking me up with her screams at 3AM. I left the curtains open for her out of respect, and she repays me that way? Oh no, she would learn who's Lord Black. And the other portraits were complaining as well, so it was inevitable."

"Even the other Blacks couldn't stand her?"

"They say she was insane, not to mention they did not take the Black's support of Voldemort very well. 'A Black bows to no-one but the Crown', and all that jazz. Makes sense, though. They supported blood purity, but Wizarding Britain is, at least in theory and since the time where the Magna Carta was signed, under the authority of the Crown and the organisations that represent it. In our case, it's the Wizengamot first and only then the Ministry. The Blacks, despite being a Dark family, were also one of the nine families that founded the Wizengamot, so they are loyal to the Crown in the first place. But you know that as well as I do, anyway."

"Right, the title of Ancient and Noble House doesn't exist just because our ancestors felt like it."

"Yeah, but I guess this is enough serious talk for now, don't you think so?"

"Couldn't agree more."

**.**

**Hogsmeade**

**.**

They managed to keep the rest of the trip in a fairly relaxed tone, discussing the latest pranks from the twins, who eventually spend some days of the week at Hogwarts, preparing to take their NEWTs. It was quite a surprise for Harry, who thought their joke shop would take most of their time, but as it turned out, their success so far allowed them to hire an employee to their shop at Diagon Alley.

Their morning at Hogsmeade was fairly standard. A fast stop at Scribbulus, to buy some quills, inkwells and parchment, another at Honeydukes to get some chocolate (Harry bought a big bar for Remus, knowing he was a sucker of chocolate), and a visit to Tomes and Scrolls, the local book store. They also managed to visit Dominic Maestro's, after Susan urged Harry to keep training his piano playing skills. Susan herself also eyed a guitar with a nostalgic glint on her eyes for some moments, something that wasn't missed by Harry, who decided to touch the subject later.

The highest point of that morning was when they found themselves seeing the decoration of Madam Puddifoot's through the windows.

"That's some... lacy shop." Harry mused, eyeing it with weariness.

"Harry... if I ever suggest we should come here, stun me and take me to Madam Pomfrey, fast. I like fluffy things, but this is ridiculous."

"I'll keep that in mind." the teenager assured her.

Lunch time came, and Harry decided it was time to reveal his surprise. "So, ready for lunch Sue?"

She stopped for a moment, thinking. "Sure. Three Broomsticks?"

The Gryffindor smiled mischievously, his hand holding hers. "I have a better idea." The boy then guided his betrothed through the streets of Hogsmeade, stopping at a discreet restaurant with mirror windows. Harry gingerly opened the door, letting her enter the building first.

Susan, for the lack of a better term, was flabbergasted. The restaurant was decorated with stylish paintings and the odd plant here and there, but there was only one table for two in the room. The waiter, clad in a formal suit, greeted the couple with a bow. "Harry," she said slowly, "this is beautiful."

The green-eyed teenager chuckled. "It is just a way to thank you for everything, love. A lunch just for you and me." He led her towards the table and helped her with the seating, adjusting the chair as she gracefully sat. She winked, a smile on her face, pleased with his etiquette. Harry sat on his chair as well, and nodded to the waiter to begin the lunch itself.

They must have spent an hour or so alternating between eating and talking, with the occasional sip of white wine, an adequate choice for the grilled salmon with sesame and roasted potatoes that was served as the main course. After the dessert, a tasty cheesecake that left Susan wiping the plate clean, Harry gave another sign to the waiter, who bowed and left the room, but now without waving his wand and turning on the music. Susan tilted her head, a question on her eyes, but the boy just smiled and got to his feet. "May I invite you to dance, love?"

The redhead beamed. "Of course, dear." she said, accepting his offered hand and getting to her feet. The two started a slow dance, in tune with the music, enjoying the close contact. Harry had dancing lessons during his training as a Lord, so the reservations he had during the Yule Ball were gone, replaced by a comfortable confidence as their feet moved without missteps.

"Hmm, what a coincidence... who would think that the radio would play 'Spanish Guitar'?" Harry whispered to Susan, stressing the song's title.

"Y-you noticed me?" she stuttered, blushing.

Harry couldn't see her face right now, but he felt the heat of her cheek. He moved his head so he could face her. "I almost missed it, but noticed you seemed to remember something when you looked at that guitar. I assume you know how to play it?"

"Yeah... the first thing I remember is seeing my mother playing.. I learned to play as well, but her guitar was damaged on the accident... it was still playable, but the sound was never the same again. Magical instruments are like that, difficult to repair."

"Hmmm... I wonder if you and Daphne would want to join me for a Christmas concert for our family." Harry said, making sure she understood what he was getting at.

"Harry... you don't have to..."

"But I want to." he said firmly, although his lips were curled in a kind smile. "It's as you said, magical instruments, once damaged, are very difficult to restore completely. I respect what your mother's guitar means to you, but maybe it is time for you to have your own guitar, and one day give our..." he trailed off, immediately scolding himself for his lack of courage. She kept looking at him, though, silently asking him to complete his thought. He stared into her blue eyes, and mustered the courage to fulfil her request. "... and one day give our kids the same memory you have from your mother, but with us playing."

Susan said nothing, opting to keep looking at his emerald green orbs. She could tease him about his mention of their future children, but she felt like his words touched a very soft spot on her heart. She moved her head closer to his, both teenagers feeling an irresistible urge to keep going. Their lips touched, making the flutter of their hearts increase a hundredfold.

Harry couldn't help but notice how different this kiss was from the ones he had in the past. Susan tasted like raspberries, and there was no semblance of sorrow there, only a much anticipated joy. He let himself feel that joy, their tongues keeping an half-hearted battle, seeking not domination, but to keep the kiss going for as long as they could.

Susan, on the other hand, was fairly pleased with Harry, scratch that, she was _very_ pleased. He did not shy down, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer, and on his side of the kiss there was no statement of dominance, opting instead to go along with her, trying to find what would please her, in a somewhat more assertive version of his usual behaviour. And she loved it.

Eventually, the need for air was bigger than their need to keep the kiss going, and their lips parted from each other.

"Merlin," Susan breathed, "that was... you really know how to make things better."

"It takes two to make it good Susan."

She blushed. "Thanks. I'm not very..."

"I take it a kiss like this isn't something you experienced very often." he said, much to her embarrassment.

"Well, more like never experienced a kiss, let alone one like this."

Harry blinked. "Now that you mention it, I never recalled seeing you with a boyfriend. Oh sorry, that was rude." he apologized, realizing his slip-up.

"It's the truth, so no harm done. We Hufflepuffs are like family, and I'm not one to spend time checking out other boys... apart from a certain green-eyed Seeker since our third year."

"Oh, why did I miss you all this time?" Harry whined.

"Maybe you had a madman after you." she quipped, smiling.

"Stupid Voldyshorts," he grumbled, "couldn't kill me, tried to kill my chances of a normal love life."

"It's a good thing that he failed at that as well, right?"

"Oh yes," Harry beamed, genuinely happy, "a very good thing."

"Excellent. Now let's get moving, the weather seems to be good enough for a walk."

Their afternoon was pretty much spent walking around, with Harry showing her the Shrieking Shack and what exactly happened there for the building to deserve that name. Susan was shocked at first, but eventually ended up laughing as hard as she could when she realized that people thought the place was haunted, yet it has been years since screams have been heard.

"Seriously," she said, "I wonder why people never figured that the place wasn't haunted. I mean, the screaming stopped and never came back, after all..."

"That's right," the boy admitted, "but wizards... hang on, you just gave me an idea." he said, grinning roguishly.

Susan quickly got his idea, and her mouth curled upwards in a smile like Harry's. "Oh yes, that is an excellent idea Harry."

Both teenagers entered the building discreetly, and proceeded to enchant the house with some charms that while simple, had the desired effect when combined. They left the house one hour later, performed the last spell, needed to activate the charms inside, and grinned to each other as they thought about what would happen that night. They made sure the final result wouldn't be too loud, but it would be a good way to give a reason for people to believe the house was haunted. Susan was positively giddy from their prank, and Harry, as much as he denied it, couldn't help but feel like the proverbial cat that ate the canary.

Eventually, and much to the displeasure of the teenagers, the afternoon ended, and the couple once again seized a carriage for themselves. With Susan's new guitar occupying the other seat, the two teenagers decided to make the trip useful by cuddling, planning and the occasional kiss, as the Hufflepuff, in a fit of her occasional mischievousness, decided that Harry should give her kissing lessons, something that the young Lord was only too glad to provide.

**.**

**Hogwarts**

**.**

When they arrived at the castle, Daphne was already waiting for them, an eyebrow raised at the sight of the big case strapped to Harry's back. "So, I suppose you had a nice day?" she asked, once she all but dragged them to a discreet location.

Of course, this question was rhetoric, as she could see the redhead was very, very happy.

"Well, it was a very eventful day." Harry said, smiling at the knowing look the blonde gave him.

"Seems so. Oh, by the way, Professor Flitwick wants to see you, he asked me to tell you to go to his office as soon as possible."

Harry wasn't too thrilled. Oh, it wasn't like his talks with Flitwick weren't enlightening, but he'd rather spend some more time with his girls... where did that come from? "Hmm, probable something to do with our research project. I'll see you later, okay?" he asked, handing Susan the guitar case he was carrying.

"Bye Harry!"

"Bye loves." he said, hugging them before leaving the room.

Daphne peacefully waited until he closed the door before turning towards the redhead. "So, what news from the Harry front? Your face tells me something very good happened."

The Hufflepuff did not bother to hide her beaming smile. "By the way, thanks for arranging this day. About what happened, well, after lunch we spent a little time dancing, and..."

The Slytherin almost jumped on her seat, eager to her the news. "...and?" she urged a smile forming on her face as well, "Come on, don't leave me here hanging."

"Well, he caught me staring at a guitar on the music shop," she tapped the case, "and asked me about it while we were dancing. I explained to him my situation... and when I noticed, I was moving my head forward to kiss him."

"And? How did it go?"

"I guess we'll be two very spoiled witches when it comes to kissing."

The Ice Princess chuckled. "More like he'll spoil us with everything, no? Still, there's one thing that intrigues me. Why the new guitar?"

Susan made an unsure face, that the Slytherin correctly interpreted as touching on sensitive point. "Never mind, I never realized-" she started, but was interrupted by Susan.

"No, don't worry. You're family now, anyway." she smiled, before describing the conversation she had with Harry, including his comment regarding children.

"That's so like Harry," the blonde smiled, "sometimes he just says what he wants to say but that only come out if he slips. That's it, I'm going to start hitting him on the arm every time I feel he stops before saying something like that."

"You know, that's a very good idea. He's very hard to train, after all." the redhead replied, sending both teenagers into a fit of laughter.

Somewhere on the way to Flitwick's office, Harry shuddered, a mix of excitement and dread running through his spine. He was fairly sure those two girls were cooking something. "Never a dull moment." he muttered, climbing another set of stairs.

* * *

><p><strong>This was... strange to write. Not hard, just strange.<strong>

**Anyway, see you!**


	9. Wizengamot Part 1

**Disclaimer... the same as usual...  
><strong>

**All right, this took a while and was hard to write, but college work is boring and takes time... anyway, the chapters will now have 4k words, instead of the 3k words they had until now.**

* * *

><p><strong>Hogwarts<strong>

**.**

Harry lifted his head to let the water fall on his face, relishing the feeling of a hot shower after his morning exercise with Neville. Although the day was very cold and there was a thick blanket of snow covering the soil, both teenagers did their morning run, reasoning that it wouldn't be a bit of snow that would stop the routine that was now a must do for both of them.

The teenager mentally reviewed the Defense Club meeting of the previous day, smirking at the the duel where Neville humiliated yet another wizard that made fun of him. It had been quite amusing to see the usually shy Gryffindor win his practice duel with a mix of fast reflexes, usage of the surroundings to his advantage and silent spell casting, leaving many students astonished at the young wizard's evolution in less than a year. The DA students, however, applauded Neville's duel, remembering his determination during the meetings and his role on the Ministry raid.

He closed the tap, grabbing a nearby towel and wrapping it around his waist as he stepped out of the shower, his thoughts shifting to the issue of the shields. The rune arrays were the easiest part of the plan, but it wasn't enough to reach the expectations the researchers had. However, the potions were turning out to be harder than it seemed. Severus was twisting his head trying to find the right ingredient combination to imbue the shield with.

And to make things worse, he had a Wizengamot meeting today. One week has passed since he went to Hogsmeade with Susan, and his appointments for this past week did not allow him to spend as much time as he wanted with his betrothed. He was lucky they understood his situation, and supported him when he arrived at Hogwarts completely frustrated with the blatant idiocy and prejudice he witnessed. Sighing, he dressed himself up, checking carefully his tie before leaving the room to meet Neville and go to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Took you long enough." said his friend, as the green-eyed wizard entered the Common Room. "I was wondering if you went back to bed."

Harry smirked. "Believe me, my bed would be a very welcome place right now."

"I know the feeling mate," replied the future Lord Longbottom, "getting out of bed to hear old fossils... anyway, let's go have some breakfast."

The Great Hall was somewhat empty. It wasn't an Hogsmeade weekend, so the students had no reason to come and have breakfast at 8 AM. Harry and Neville leisurely walked towards the Gryffindor table and sat down on the first spot that was available, deciding what to eat.

"So, Harry," said Neville, after a few minutes spent eating, "what do you think they'll bicker about today?"

"I'm not sure Nev, with all the new families that took the place of the Death Eater ones..." he admitted, shaking his head. "Last time we were there, I saw a few faces that made me wary. We got rid of the Death Eaters, but we still have a lot of nuisances to deal with. Bloody supremacists."

"Gran said something similar while we were there... do you think they'll try to stop your plans?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted, "I only got a bad vibe from them, but I don't know how active they will be. If they're very active..."

"We'll be on a tight spot." agreed the Longbottom scion. "I guess we'll have to hope for the best, then."

"Hope for the best and prepare for the worst. That's what Lady Longbottom told me, anyway."

"That sounds like Gran all right. Anyway, how goes your alliance-making?"

Harry smiled. "It's going fairly well. We have enough seats to make sure our block is solid, but we could use a few more seats to consolidate our position. Not all of the new families are pureblood supremacists, but we need more time before we can invite them."

"And time is something that we don't have..." muttered Neville, thinking about the current blocks. "We could really use the votes of the newcomers, but how about the Neutral Block?"

The green-eyed wizard sighed. "Lord Dawlish talked to some of them, but things are pretty much the same. They'll hear the proposals and decide on which side to take."

The Longbottom hair smiled. "Well, at least we know they won't side with the Traditionalists if they don't like their proposals."

"True," the young Lord agreed, "and given that they can make or break a motion if they go for a unified response, they can give us some time. Having Ewart there gives us a little support inside the block, too."

"Speaking of time, we should get going, Harry. The meeting should start in two hours, and we should talk a bit about the session before it begins." Neville said, getting to his feet after swallowing the last mouthful. Harry did the same, and the two teenagers left the Great Hall, walking towards the Headmaster's office, but not without meeting Susan and Hannah on the way.

"Good morning Susan!" Harry greeted, kissing the ginger-haired Hufflepuff. "Sorry for not having breakfast with you, but..."

"I know, I know," she replied, smiling, "good luck for today. Say 'hi' to Auntie for me."

"I will." he said. Suddenly, an idea sprung to his mind, "Hay, how about dinner on the Room of Requirements today? Just the three of us?"

"Sounds good to me. I'll ask Daphne about it. Now get moving mister, we can't have a late Lord, can we?" she said, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

"Right." Harry replied, grinning. Discreetly, he tilted his head towards Neville and Hannah, a gesture that Susan understood once she saw the giggling couple throwing glances at them. "Well," she whispered to the raven-haired teenager, "it looks like they're closer."

"Should I tell the lover boy to get moving?"

Susan playfully slapped Harry's arm. "Don't be a prat! It is hard enough to get those two talking to each other!"

The teenage wizard snorted. "All right, all right. I'll be going then, love." he said, giving her one last kiss and turning towards his friend. "Let's get going, Dumbledore is waiting!"

"Right behind you, mate." The shy Gryffindor nodded, traded some final words with Hannah, and resumed their walk towards the office.

Albus Dumbledore was a busy man, checking sheet after sheet of request forms, bills and other random papers with the overall relevance of toilet paper after being used. However, he had to address every single issue, no matter how useless it might look like. He mentally thanked the stars for having a Wizengamot session today. The stack of parchments sent by the Board suggesting the acquisition of lower-grade dragon dung was starting to get on his nerves. Was it really needed to describe with such thoroughness the consistency of manure? Who wants to know that the smell is 'less aggressive', or that it is 'very malleable'. Merlin, they were talking about shit, not clay!

His thoughts were interrupted by the wards indicating that Harry and Mr. Longbottom had just arrived. With a thought, he asked the gargoyle to move aside, allowing the two wizards to climb the stairs. Moments later, he heard Harry's... peculiar knock.

"Come in!" the elder wizard said, placing another piece of parchment on the 'out' box.

"Good morning Albus, Fawkes." Harry said, grinning. Fawkes immediately replied with a soft trill, flying to the teenager's shoulder and trying to preen his hair, a gesture that became somewhat of a joke between the two of them.

"Good morning Harry, Mr. Longbottom. Are you ready for a day of boredom?"

"Do we have a choice?" Harry asked rhetorically, much to the amusement of the other occupants of the room.

"You're right." Dumbledore agreed, before throwing a handful of Floo powder into the fire. "Well, shall we?" he asked, his twinkle at full force.

Harry frowned. "You've got to teach me how to do that twinkle of yours."

"That is something you'll have to find out for yourself Harry. Anyway, I'll go first. Ministry of Magic!" the Headmaster said, jumping into the emerald flames.

"Sometimes, he is infuriating." the young lord grumbled good-naturedly, eliciting a chuckle from his friend, as they too entered the fire.

**.**

**Ministry of Magic**

**.**

The three wizards exited the floo gracefully and immediately went to the guard so they could have their wands registered. The Fountain of Magical Brethren, destroyed during the raid on the Ministry and, in the opinions of both Dumbledore and Harry, the symbol of the arrogance of the British wizards, was replaced by a silver unicorn with a goose, a rooster and a sparrow perched on its back, symbols for the purity of intentions, loyalty, protection and memory that the post-war (and post-Fudge) Ministry strove to achieve.

As they entered the elevator, Harry couldn't help but to muse if they would manage to actually do it. Scrimgeour, the new Minister and former Head Auror, was a man of action, but the political manoeuvrings that came with his new position could tie him down to the interests of the wrong people. The two of them already had a talk about that, where the Minister requested his support, but Harry clearly stated that he would only support him in the Wizengamot if he agreed with Scrimgeour's proposals, something that the older wizard saw no problem with, as most of his stances were very close to Harry's.

"Knut for your thoughts, Harry?" asked Dumbledore, noticing his pensive face.

"Just thinking about the Minister."

"Ah, Rufus. He's very smart, but he's also very Gryffindor. Keep that in mind."

Harry snorted. "You know, that's a pretty cryptic comment. I'll assume you mean he jumps first and checks the height later."

Dumbledore said nothing, but Harry could see his amused smile through his reflection on the elevator's door.

"Do you think Gran's already here, Harry?"

"Given how important this session is, I'd say she has been here for a while now."

"Well, only one way to find out, right?" Neville inquired, as the doors opened slowly. The trio left the elevator, walking towards the meeting room that they usually occupied before the session. Said room was one of many, created to provide a space for the Lords to have their conversation with a minimum of privacy.

"I guess this is the place where we part ways, at least for now. Don't forget to wait for me when the session is over." Dumbledore said.

"We won't." Harry replied. "After all, it would be a bit hard to return to Hogwarts without your Floo clearance." he added, with a smirk.

Albus chuckled. "I must admit I forgot about that. Well, I won't take any more of your time. I'll see you later." he said, nodding to the teenagers before he went to his own meeting room. The Chief Warlock made a point of being available for a quick talk during the hour that preceded the Session, as the more politically-involved Lords often came early to meet with their allies, making this arrangement advantageous to both sides. The Lords knew that any requests to the Chief Warlock could be handled personally, and Albus did not have to deal with requests outside the Minstry, unless the situation was of utmost urgency.

Harry and Neville shook their heads fondly before entering the room. True to Harry's prediction, Augusta Longbottom was already there, reading a piece of parchment, probably something related with this session's agenda while talking with Ian Dawlish, a distinguished-looking wizard with a mane of silver hair and piercing light blue eyes.

"Good Morning, Lady Longbottom, Lord Dawlish." the teenagers said, bowing respectfully to their elders and awaiting for Ian's response, as a Lady did not have to return the greeting verbally if there was a male in the room to do that.

"Good Morning, Lord Potter-Black, Scion Longbottom." The wizard replied, nodding. "I'm glad you came so early today."

"No matter the session's agenda, I am always early Lord Dawlish." the green eyed wizard replied. "After all, there are many things to do here."

Ian chuckled. "Indeed Harry." he replied, dropping the formalities. "So, how are things going at Hogwarts?"

"Peaceful," replied Harry, sitting on one of the chairs, "I must admit I never thought I'd have a year as peaceful as this one. About time, too."

"I understand your relief," said Augusta, interrupting the conversation she was having with her grandson, "after all, if the parents were properly informed of what happened at Hogwarts on the last five years, I seriously doubt they would allow their children to stay there. It is true that letting the whole true be known would make a lot of people panic, but still..." she trailed off, knowing the the young wizard would draw the right conclusion.

"... it is their right to know the truth, especially when it concerns their children."

Lord Dawlish nodded. "Yes, you're right. My youngest had already finished Hogwarts by the time you went there for your first time, so there was nothing for me to fear, but hearing your stories about what happened there, I can't help but muse on how we disregarded something as big as a basilisk." he shook his head ruefully. "I was there when poor Myrtle was killed, but then Riddle framed Hagrid and everybody forgot about that. I still wonder how everyone forgot that there are not many beasts that can kill without a mark."

"They just sat back and decided to blame Hagrid for it without anything beyond Riddle's word, that's why. No wonder he managed to become a Dark Lord under everyone's noses." Harry said, shaking his head.

Grindelwald's activities were pretty much limited to the European mainland, never reaching Britain itself, and for that reason, the Ministry of the time grew lax, much like Fudge did during his time as a Minster. Unfortunately, some wizards had the bad habit of waiting until they were hit by the storm to start acting. Others acted to protect themselves and their families, but did not go further than that. Then there was a third group, the ones who were willing to act, but were waiting for a figurehead, a flag bearer that would attract people to their cause with their fame or their charisma.

Harry's group was mostly composed by wizards of this last group. Harry's defeat of Voldemort, his sway as leader of two Most Ancient and Noble Houses and his plans for the future of Wizarding Britain provided them with the figurehead to champion their cause, even if said figurehead was a listener, not a talker.

"But now things can change." said Lady Longbottom, earning nods of agreement from the other members. "Our path is a hard one, but we should walk it nevertheless."

Ian nodded. "An excellent way of putting things, Augusta. Now, let us check today's agenda and decide what to do, shall we?"

**.**

**Wizengamot Chambers, Ministry of Magic**

**.**

"Good Morning, Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot." Dumbledore said after the last Ministry worker that had a seat on the Wizengamot finally sat down after a rather rushed entry. "I now declare the current session open at 10AM of November 16th. Today's agenda includes the final decision on the lifting of he restriction on flying carpet sale and usage and the discussion of the DMLE's budget for the next year. There were no special requests for new items to add to the agenda, and any request made during this session will only be addressed when the items currently on the agenda are discussed. Are there any objections to this?"

Seeing that nobody replied to the question, the Chief Warlock proceeded with the formalities. "As there are no objections, we will now proceed to the first item on the agenda. Lord Rickson, we will begin with your address to this august body."

An elderly wizard on the third circle stood up and bowed towards Dumbledore. "Thank you Chief Warlock." he said, before grabbing a parchment, clearing his throat before starting his speech.

"Honourable Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot, we are here today to revise an interdiction that has been around for many years, although its reason to exist has long been gone. Some of you may not understand what I'm talking about, since family brooms and carpets aren't the most interesting subject, I'm afraid. I will provide you with a very brief history of the banning of the flying carpets and the true reasons behind it.

On the Wizengamot session of April 17th, 1885, the sale and usage of flying carpets was interdicted under the Muggle Item Enchantment Law. Of course, that was just an excuse to protect the then thriving market of multi-passenger brooms. I won't tire you with the details, but on the beginning of the twentieth century, there were no less than fifteen certified broom companies. I am sure some of us still remember the old Roakes Model 1901, or the Shepherd Omnibus, the symbol of that time... but that time is long gone. Roakes got absorbed by Nimbus, Shepherd turned into Shooting Star Brooms. There hasn't been any new multi-passenger brooms since 1914."

Harry leaned towards Augusta while the wizard continued his speech. "No wonder that there was a carpet maker that was always trying to talk with Mr. Weasley. There's no reason to keep the interdiction up."

"Indeed, but there's another thing you should know. Eric Rickson has a few contacts on the Middle East and India. Guess what's the main activity of said contacts?"

The young Lord's eyebrows went up. "Ah, so he does this because he has an interest. I suppose he would become the link between Britain and the carpet companies?"

"That is a very strong possibility Harry. He's not doing this for interest only, though. As much as he is a business man, he's not the kind of man that betrays his values. He may make small concessions on everyday business, but when important things are at stake, he doesn't budge from his beliefs. Of course, there the issue that he's a bit... traditional on some points, but nothing that could give us trouble.

"I see." Harry said. "But I still can't fathom the reason why there are people opposing this proposal."

"It's a matter of pride," sighed Lady Longbottom, "even with the ICW, there are some fools that still believe the Britain should not... 'sully' itself on negotiations with so called 'lesser' wizards."

Harry frowned. "That's stupid... no, forget stupid, that's disgusting. If we are as good as they say, then why the hell did we have to deal with Voldemort twice?"

"Do not expect them to think rationally, their delusions of grandeur blind them to the harsh reality." advised Ian, so far focused on Rickson's speech. "On the other hand, if all goes well, their age may be over soon and they will be as annoying as a fly in your soup."

"My, you are vicious today. What's the matter?"

"Nothing too serious, it's just that idiot Greymoor that's ticking me off with his attitude towards Rickson. His face has shown nothing but contempt since the speech started, and I don't see any reason for that."

"It's Greymoor," Augusta said, "I remember hearing about him getting his... parts almost hexed off when he was just a Hogwarts student... I think your daughter had something to do with it, right?"

Ian nodded, a very evil grin plastered on his face. "Elaine owled me about it. I taught her the Castration Hex after that particular incident, but it seemed that Greymoor learned his lesson after his first try. Pity."

"Remind me never to get on your wrong side." Harry muttered, amusing the other two magicals, who made an effort not to laugh in the middle of the speech.

Said speech went on for quite a while, with Rickson making a thorough analysis of the benefits of having once again flying carpets available to the wizarding families. After nearly one hour of talking, during which Harry discreetly playing tic-tac-toe with Neville, the businessman finally decided to finish his speech.

"... not to mention that our families could opt for a sightseeing trip on a carpet, where they could comfortably enjoy good weather and our beautiful landscapes, instead of being forced to apparate with someone else, and we all know how uncomfortable that may be. Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot, these are the reasons why I support the end of the ban on flying carpet usage. Thank you." the wizard bowed, as the rest of the Wizengamot applauded his speech politely.

"Thank you Lord Rickson." Dumbledore said. "Is there anyone else that wishes to make a statement, or may we proceed to the voting?"

Silence filled the room for some moments, before the elder wizard nodded. "Very well. We will now vote for the lifting of the ban on flying carpet. Those in favour?"

Harry glanced towards Ian and Augusta before tapping the 'Yes' button with his wand. They had discussed this quite thoroughly before, and saw no problem in supporting this proposal.

"And those against?" a few more seconds passed as the remaining lords chose to vote against or abstain from voting.

"Very well." the Chief Warlock nodded, as a chart with the results appeared over his head. "The results indicate that the proposal has been approved with forty-three percent approval against thirty-eight, with nineteen percent of abstentions. This matter is now closed. I propose a pause of an hour to prepare for the second item of this day. This session will resume at..." he looked to his watch, "ten past eleven."

**.**

**Ministry of Magic, Wizengamot Private Rooms**

**.**

"I was wondering when he would stop talking. Is he always this talkative?" Harry asked as he sat on his usual chair, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm afraid so Harry. Eric can be quite... loquacious when it comes to things that spark his interest." Ian replied, amused with the young Lord's reactions. Even after knowing him for a few months, when he was just a student who managed to defeat Voldemort for the last time, he still found his reactions in an informal setting to be refreshing, especially for someone who was groomed since childhood to take his father's place.

"Tell me about it. I wondered if he wasn't planning to make a book out of his speech or something. At least he isn't like Binns."

"Thank Merlin for that. I don't think the Wizengamot would resist having Binns' successor talking."

"I don't think the situation would change that much, only instead of Supremacists, we would have Binns Junior stopping any action on its tracks."

"While this is very funny," interrupted Lady Longbottom, "I believe we have something else to discuss?"

"Right, right. My apologies Augusta. Still, we have to wait for Ewart, don't we Harry?" asked Dawlish.

The green-eyed wizard nodded. "He told me he'd meet us during this break."

"I see." was the witch's only reply. "Still, I wonder what does Amelia plan to do with her budget..."

Ian was about to reply when someone knocked on the door. "Sorry for the delay, Lady Longbottom, Scion Longbottom, Lord Potter, Lord Dawlish," said Ewart Greengrass, nodding towards the people on the room, "Rickson decided to ask me a few questions about the logistics of bringing the carpets from the Middle East..."

"Don't worry about that, Ewart. Now that we're all here, maybe we could start discussing today's high point, yes?"

The wizards on the room nodded in agreement.

"Excellent." the witch said. "Ewart, you're the former Auror here, could you please share with us your thoughts on what may be on the next year's budget?"

Lord Greengrass rubbed his chin, thinking about everything that was cut in the DMLE since the First War was over. There were quite a lot of things that should be reinstated, as there were some things that could be planned for the next years. "Well, I guess the biggest points would be to make things faster. It takes some time until a call for any of the DMLE departments is processed and the teams come out. The Aurors aren't the worst, but for them to take half an hour to arrive... you get my point. Then we have the staffing and the training. We're at peace now, but that doesn't mean we don't need to ensure the safety of wizards and witches... and the current people on the DMLE aren't enough for the needs of the whole country, not to mention that half of them lack any semblance of proper training... and competency to deal with their duties. I think most of the budget will go the the Auror Department, though. The cuts done on these past years will be paid now with interest..."

Harry crossed his arms and reclined himself on his chair. This was going to be an interesting meeting.

* * *

><p><strong>Boring chapter, I know. And this is only part 1 of 2, but I realized it wasn't enough to say Harry had a seat on the Wizengamot, I had to write him doing something.<strong>

**Anyway, stay tuned for the next chapter, hopefully it will take less time than this one did. Easter, reports, politics... gah.**

**See ya!**


	10. Wizengamot Part 2

**I'm still here. This took a long, long time, but it is done. Be advised, this is a chapter that deals mostly in ideologies and planning for the future. It is boring, I know. **

**That being said, the disclaimer is still up, as expected, and without further delay, we proceed with your ir(regularly) scheduled story.**

* * *

><p>The meeting had come and gone, the small group planning on what to do and listing their possible allies among the Neutrals. Things did look good for a simple majority, but the group felt they were not out of the woods yes, especially with the inscrutable newcomers to the Wizengamot politics.<p>

This led to an apprehensive Harry watching as the session resumed. However, apprehension quickly gave way to surprise as he saw a familiar face requesting permission for an intervention. "Hmm? I recall that face from the television, that's Cecil Howlingdale!" he whispered.

"Howlingdale, you said?" Augusta asked, examining the the man, with impressive gray hair but whose face hinted that he was much younger than his hair would suggest. In fact, Cecil Alastair Howlingdale was only forty-nine years old, a youngster in wizarding terms, but his life experiences gave him a vision of the world only rivaled by the likes of Augusta Longbottom and Ian Dawlish, who only now recognized the face.

"Tell me Harry, how do you know Lord Howlingdale?" Ian asked, curious.

"He worked on several conflict zones as part of an NGO to give humanitarian support. He showed up often on the news because of that." the wizard explained.

"That explains why he only got a Wizengamot seat now, then... as far as I know, the Howlingdales are a Noble family, and well-off to boot." Ian said, although Augusta had different thoughts on the matter.

"Or maybe the Howlingdales have been too involved in the Muggle world for the purists who were entrenched here to give him a place. If I recall, every generation of that family had at least one person involved with the Muggle world." She didn't think it was fair, but with the filth that used to seat on this body of government, she wouldn't be surprised.

The discussion did not go father than this, however. "The Howlingdale seat has the stand for its intervention." Albus said, as the occupant of said seat rose to his feet and began his speech, drawing the attention of the crowd with a clear, resolute voice:

"Lords and ladies of the Wizengamot, fellow magicals… Britain stands at a crossroads. We survived through a crisis that could mean a repeat of a tragic time were it not for the courage of a few good wizards and witches. We are now free of that ghost of days past, but the future is ahead, and decisions will be made that will shape our future.

I understand that many of us, shocked by the unspeakable deeds of that madman, might want to avoid feeding a hypothetical cycle of violence, but I urge you to listen to my concerns before making your final decision. Because while I too want to lay the ghosts of the day past to rest, I remember mistakes that were made, and have no desire to see them repeated. This is why I stand for the raise of the budgets for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

The Romans had a saying… _"Si vis pacem, para bellum"_ - If you want peace, prepare for war. It is a well known saying, true, but how many times did we stop and think about it thoroughly? Allow me to say that this is the perfect time to do just that. Let us remember what happened after '81, what we did to the DMLE – cuts after cuts, because 'the war was over'. Actually, it stated long before that. I did some digging through the records, and since 1945 that the budget of the DMLE is 'temporarily cut' here and there, only for those temporary cuts to become permanent. This cannot go on! No more of this!"

Whispers of approval rose through the audience. Although few people were old enough to see those cuts and remember them, the loss of prestige that came with the post 2nd World War period made an impression on numerous people intent in restoring Britain's reputation. Augusta Longbottom nodded, remembering that every once in a while, her father-in-law, a man of great foresight, would say that those cuts would be paid dearly in the future.

Ignoring all the whispers, however, Cecil drank a bit of water from a glass in his desk, and proceeded with his intervention:

"We sat peacefully at the shade of the tree, and forgot that another storm might be on the horizon. Only seers can see the future, but we don't need seers to know that history repeats itself. That man came, and Britain was caught mostly unprepared.

Would our Aurors be enough to stop the oncoming tide, especially after everything that's coming to light through the Macmillan Commission? We can all see the issues: outdated training, lack of manpower, lack of equipment… the list goes on! I ask you, lords and ladies of the Wizengamot: Will we keep sending the people responsible for our security to their deaths because we refused to see the truth, like many who fell to defend our way of life against the extremist madness? Or will we see things as they are, and give our security forces what they need to rise once again to the standards we were so proud of back in Grindelwald's time, where our Aurors and Hitwizards were so well known that Grindelwald's followers never dared to set foot on our islands in fear of meeting our wanded fist?

Will we keep relying solely in the bravery of a few, just because we couldn't do the job ourselves? How many Potters, and many other unsung braves will it take for us to understand that every meeting we have where he shoot down what needs to be done we stain our hands a bit more in the blood that they have spilled for all of us? Or will we raise our voices and make sure that any other madmen that might attempt to rise meet a quick and hard fall?

There are many things to be done: training regimens need to be updated, equipment needs to be acquired, old requirements need to be revised and reinstated if found useful for the future. But for that, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement needs funds, funds that it has been lacking for a long time now. They have good people there, but they can only do so much without our help.

For many years, the DMLE got the short end of deal when it came to budget allocation. I ask you to remember the Romans, and let us maintain peace by making sure the ones responsible for upholding it are properly looked to. No more should we stand and see our government fail to assure the security of our people. No more should we see brave people die alone because they were the only ones able to stand and fight. No more should we see the MLE as a useless department in times of peace, but as a cornerstone in keeping the peace and protecting British citizens!

I have travelled through many places in the world, and saw many Mundane war zones. I do not want to hear that suffering in the voices of my people, and I am sure you do not want that either. This is why I urge you to stand up, and vote for the funding of the DMLE, for the re-establishment of a legend, for a brighter future for Britain.

With this, I end my intervention. Thank you for your time, Noble Ones of the Wizengamot."

As the wizard sat down again, the supporters of the budget raise were the first to act, clapping and shouting words of agreement. Of course, there were naysayers, but those kept themselves silent, not wanting to draw the attention of what seemed now to be the majority of the body, not to mention having several of their arguments cut off by the newcomer's reminder of past glories.

Harry's block look at each other, nodding. Howlingdale would be a good contact to have around. "Good speech, he really managed to rally support for the budget raise. I guess we should see if Ewart can get in touch with him?" Neville asked, eyeing the other three.

"My thoughts exactly Neville," his grandmother replied, "even if he's the first of his family to occupy a seat here, I knew a few members of his family and they were good people. He will be a valuable ally to us."

The rest of the session did not have much to tell about, with the voting giving a clear win towards the budget raises. After the session, however, the group did not scatter immediately, instead inviting Howlingdale to have a chat with them while they waited for Madam Bones and Ewart to get done with their own business, so that the whole group could plan ahead on what to do next.

**.**

**Wizengamot Offices**

**.**

With the pleasantries out of the way, the group, save for Amelia, who had an unexpected issue to handle, the conversation turned towards the speech given by Howlingdale.

"So, Cecil, what drove you to stand out so soon? Not that I'm criticizing you," corrected Ian, "but usually people keep quiet during several sessions while they get a grip of the goings there."

Cecil nodded, showing that he wasn't offended by Ian's comment. "Well, it's a family matter. We always believed in helping those close to us, one way or another. My brother serves in the Navy. My father was in both Dunkirk and the Normandy landings. I decided to pick a more peaceful job and provide relief for those who needed it. We were away from the magical world, but that did not mean we ignored it. When the clean-up of the Wizengamot freed up some seats, we decided to make a bit for one. Adam can't exactly drop his commission, and Father wasn't sure he wouldn't whip out his wand and hex some people that are still here, so I drew the short stick." the room laughed a bit at his joke. "When I learned what would be the matters discussed in this session, I couldn't exactly ignore things. When I learned things were a bit shaky, I decided to draw on a little history lesson." he then shrugged. "Some people might not be able to see the bigger picture, but they're also vain and still believing Britain is above all others. Why not use that to make them do something useful for a change?"

"Well, thank Merlin you intervened," Ewart said, "how's Adam doing, by the way?" he asked, before turning to harry to explain. "Adam was on our class as well, but in Hufflepuff."

"He's quite fine, managed to work his way up to Commander and is the captain of a frigate." the man laughed, "He says that if he knew how much work it was, he'd have declined the thing."

Ewart chuckled. "Typical Adam. Moan about how much work needs to be done, then he goes above and beyond what was requested. Shame that he picked the Royal Navy, would make a fine Hitwizard."

"Yeah, we weren't exactly happy with things back then... remember that attack on '77, the one that ended up having two Aurors being unmasked as Death Eaters?" Howlingdale asked, with the older magicals in the room nodding affirmatively, "Aunt of ours, a mediwitch, died there. Father just stomped his foot and laid down the family law. Then again, we all agreed with him, so it was just meant to prove a point."

Ewart frowned, obviously displeased at the episode Cecil mentioned. "Oh yes, I remember that raid. As if being short on personnel weren't enough, then there had to be bloody collaborators. Never thought I'd have to turn my wand on my fellow Aurors."

"Well, it is hard to catch unmarked sympathizers..." Ian mused, before shaking his head, "but we come back to the funding business. Pre-1945 DMLE was pretty good on internal security. On the other hand..." he trailed off, undoubtedly trying to find the right words.

"On the other hand, you were dealing with terrorists." Cecil finished. "I've seen a few of them on my tours. We never know who might be a sympathizer, even between the people that would be supposedly protecting us. It was the same here. Even if the DMLE was up to the old standards on internal security, pureblood supremacists could still be inside, even if they didn't actually harm anyone through action."

The group was silent for some moments, before Neville spoke up. "Sorry, but you said 'harm though action'. Why?"

Cecil was about to reply, but Harry was faster. "Because 'not acting' can be as bad as trying to hamper efforts." he knew it from his first year, even if McGonagall wasn't malicious in her dismissal of the subject. "Let's think about it this way: A call for help comes out. The person receiving the request, being a pureblood supremacist, doesn't really hurry to answer the call. Sure, he didn't raise his wand, but the delay on the team's dispatching might have cost the lives of whomever made the call, just because they weren't purebloods."

Cecil eyed Harry strangely for a few moments. "Yes, that's what I was referring to. But, said inaction does not need to be done by sympathizers. There's a Mundane philosopher, Edmund Burke... he once said that _'w__hen bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle'_. This was his original quote, but many others made it shorter, but not as incisive as the original: '_All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing'_. This is the first battle to be fought, the battle against inaction, to stand by and watch, hoping that the storm passes by. That makes it easier for others to let their plans go forward and ultimately achieve their goals."

"Interesting," Ewart mused, "and food for thought too. There's one thing I'm finding strange. Why do you call Muggles 'Mundanes'?" he asked, puzzled over the other man's peculiar way of referring to the non-magical population.

The gray-haired man laughed. "Just shows how long I was outside Europe. 'Muggle is an European thing. Well, it's not exclusive to our corner of the world, I've seen lots of Americans using the same term, although that's slowly changing as generations go by. However, many other countries prefer to use the term Mundane. Why, back when I started working, every time I said 'Muggle' everybody would start laughing like I said a joke. It took some time until I realized the name just sounded silly to them."

"I can understand that," said Ian, "but is sounds a bit insulting. Mundane."

Cecil shrugged. "This conversation is one I had a lot of times before. We're all human beings, yet most of them live in a world where magic is not used, or even known, most of the time. That's why they call it mundane, because it lacks the magic, although they've done more than us wizards..." his eyes seemed to stare at the distance for a moment, before he grinned, "I just realized that the supremacists like to talk about Mundanes like they were lesser, but I've yet to hear of a wizard on the moon through magical beings. Sure, there was Yebenov," he made a face, trying hard not to laugh at the nickname given to the Soviet, "but that was part of a Russian project that ended up being dismissed after he," his shoulders started to shake, "ha, offered help to the American astronauts... completely naked."

Harry, being the one more aware of the moon landings, blinked, trying to process the sheer bizarreness of the situation. "... I... thought that was just a rumour? Would that mean that the Soviets were the first ones to send a person to the Moon?"

"No, not a rumour," Cecil corrected, "just the wrong Apollo mission. Oh, and before you ask, the KGB suicide dwarf part is just a rumour..."

"Can either of you enlighten about what in Merlin's name you're talking about?" Augusta finally asked with some irritation, although the smile on her face took the edge away from her tone.

Cecil and Harry looked at each other, trying to decide who would explain the whole thing to the poor wizard. "Well, Muggles reached space, and in 1969 they sent the first man to the moon. Apollo was the name of the mission. The rest of the things were rumours that went around... of course, looks like at least one of them wasn't a rumour at all, to be honest." Harry explained, eyeing the older wizard for confirmation.

Howlingdale nodded. "Fortunately, only the Yebenov rumour had some semblance of truth, it was a good thing, too, since the other rumours dealt mostly with people dying. Then again, they are franky stupid. Preparing someone to go to space isn't cheap, people would look out to guarantee that their astronauts would return safe and sound."

Ian and Augusta were surprised, mentally adding a point for the Muggles in their mental tallies. "To think that people with no magic managed to go where no wizard dared even to dream... is this what our world has been missing while we were choking in things as foolish as blood purity?"

"Seems so," replied Neville, grimly. He seemed to have taken the idea of going to space in stride, "shame that none of those Purists would admit that Muggles could do much better than us without any magic."

"They learned to make do without magic, Neville." Harry said, "In fact, the Wizarding Wireless? It's a copy of early radio. Now, while we still listen to the radio, they can transmit sound and image all over the world, and they're also creating a network full of information which people can access if they have the right things. They can carry hundred of people in just a few hours with their airplanes. Imagine where they will be in another ten years or so?"

"Getting very enthusiastic there." Howlingdale commented, seeing Harry's fervor while describing the technological progress.

"Like Martin Luther King, I too have a dream." Harry replied. "I can't bring the Wizarding world into the present kicking and screaming, but I can sow the seeds of change so the next generation, or the generation after that, embraces what the Muggles have to offer. It will take a long time, but I believe it can be done. Why so long? Because it would be better for the magicals to understand things well before trying to go into 'experiments'. Especially when it comes to this last century's technology."

"There were a number of developments that could be worrisome if misused, yes," Cecil agreed, scratching his chin, his mind going to the works of Oppenheimer as the most evident example. "imagine a device that could wipe out an entire Mundane city," he explained to the others, "in fact, when it was used in 1945, it wiped out a city on each usage. It is a nuclear bomb, some call it 'Nuke'. Even those who were far enough from the explosion had problems up until a certain radius. Of course, this kind of energy can be used for more peaceful means, as several Mundane countries use the reactions that make the bomb work in a controlled way to generate their electricity. However, that takes a lot of work and precision. Harry might not be fully aware of it, but some years ago, a Russian-made installation had a very serious problem and exploded. No, not an explosion like the bomb," he added, noting the looks on the faces of his audience, "something more conventional. The problem is, it spread a lot of residues, and there's a zone now that no-one should be able to stay there for long without getting serious illnesses from the radiation."

"Right," Harry nodded, "that's why we should take the time to introduce new things to the wizards, so they can see what went wrong, why... and not repeat the same mistake." The last thing he needed was a faulty reactor or, Merlin forbid it, weaponized dragon pox or some other magical infectious disease. Voldemort might have been defeated, but there would be other Dark Lords, and if one of them resorted to biological or nuclear weapons... "I'm not an expert in the matter, no even close to it, but Muggles are good at killing. Too good, but they try to keep their worst weapons contained to avoid a catastrophe. I don't want Dark Lords to get ideas and threaten both worlds with their idiocy. I don't think the magical world could survive that."

"Our tradition is firmly ingrained now," Augusta advised, "I agree that things need to be changed, but you'll have to somehow fight tradition without completely destroy it."

"True, that situation will leave us on a knife's edge." Ewart muttered. His years as a businessman gave him contacts within the Muggle world, but as a Pureblood, he was painfully aware of how some families, not necessarily Purist ones, were entrenched in their traditions. "Still, risks have to be taken for progress to march on. It is a matter of measuring that risk against the potential rewards, and Harry here seems to have given some serious thought to those matters."

The younger wizard nodded. "That's why I propose to ease people into Muggle advancements, not fight tradition, but to slowly change it to adapt to what will gradually be introduced. Other parts of tradition have no other option but to be torn down, though. The treatment of squibs is unacceptable." He added seriously, ignoring Augusta's grimace as she recalled past mistakes of her regarding Neville.

"Excellent plan," Cecil approved, "even if magicals are not willing to have squibs around, they're still family... we didn't have many on our family, but we never forsook those who were unfortunate enough to be born as one," he then smirked, twisting the knife, "and their sons might be magical as well. Why, there's a few cadet branches that connect to my family through squibs."

Ewart turned his head towards the Howlingdale, pieces fitting on his mind, "Let me guess, your policy of muggle service started when your family had its first squib?"

"Pretty much." the man replied, nodding. "He was pondering sending his other sons to learn with their brother once they finished Hogwarts. What he failed to predict was that they would ask for permission to do that before he could touch the subject. His diary tells that he was proud of their initiative, and he hoped that it kept going for the next generations."

"See, that's a constructive thing to do. Not be ashamed of their sons regardless of magical capabilities, but find instead opportunities for them to progress. Who knows which chapters of history could have been rewritten if that happened? If squibs had no problem with returning to the magical world to give a hand, what impact that could have in things like the fight against Grindelwald or Voldemort?"

"Interesting questions, no doubt," Ian said, "but you're getting into a trap there. There's no use of thinking about could-have-beens and what-ifs. It didn't happen, and perhaps you were right and things would be very different, but that is already in the past. Still, your idea has merit for the future. Who knows, they might have a large role in introducing technology to our world. After all, they would be some of the best to walk between worlds, and they could probably teach us wizards a thing or two in common sense."

"Anyone could teach wizards a lot of things regarding common sense." Ewart said, recalling the pitiful work of the Ministry people to blend in during the Quidditch World Cup. "Have you seen what some wizards dress when they go to the Muggle world? Would it be too hard for them to actually stop before going, look at how they dress, and they copy that form of dressing, instead of using whatever was on hand, like, say nightdresses for women being worn by a man?"

The Greengrass' rant, however, was interrupted by Harry's laughing as he pictured what the former Auror was referring to. "Merlin, that thing." the teenager said between laughs, "Sometimes I wonder what kind of people did they see to thing that stuff like that is remotely normal for Muggles."

"I would suggest mental institutions, or something similar." Cecil replied with a grin, before taking a glance at his watch. "I'd love to stay and chat with you ladies and gentlemen for a while longer, as I see we have much in common, but other appointments call for my attention. I hope we can schedule a meeting to discuss your plans, Lord Potter? I believe you have a solid plan there."

"It would be my pleasure, Lord Howlingdale." Harry replied, slipping back to his formal persona. "I'll owl you with something about it once I have a better idea whether if Hogwarts leaves me with some spare time."

"I'll await your owl, then." the older man replied with a nod. "Until then, I thank you all for your hospitality." he spoke to the group, bowing.

"No thanks are needed," Lord Dawlish replied, "you were an excellent guest. I hope to talk to you again in the near future, as well." The group nodded in agreement, and the farewells were said in a less formal tone than the occasion would probably call for, hinting heavily that Howlingdale's company would be appreciated for other visits. After that, the meeting was reduced to some idle chatter, mostly regarding Hogwarts and minor news from Britain, before the group dispersed, each one needing to tend to their own appointments.

* * *

><p><strong>There you go. There's some things I should probably explain, although I already forgot some of them. Ah well.<strong>

**Either way, introducing technology to the wizarding world. I gave some thought about it, and while the whole 'kicking and screaming' idea might sound attractive, mistakes will be made, and knowing wizards, they'll probably make them in a magnitude higher than the original ones. Hence the gradual introduction, to allow people to get used to it, to know and formulate their own ideas on the stuff, instead of overloading them with a lot of new shining toys.**

**... and I don't recall what else I wanted to talk about. So, until next chapter! **


End file.
